Objective-C : componentsSeparatedByString:@"" doesn't work as I am expecting it

Question

I want to create a NSArray with every character for a NSString, the problem is that when I use componentsSeparatedByString:@"" to get every single character in my array, but I am actually getting the whole string in one single case... why ?

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Apr 23 '14 at 13:29

Something like this might work too.

    NSString *stringToSplit = @"1234567890";
    NSMutableArray *arrayOfCharacters = [NSMutableArray new];
    [stringToSplit enumerateSubstringsInRange:NSMakeRange(0, stringToSplit.length) options:NSStringEnumerationByComposedCharacterSequences usingBlock:^(NSString *substring, NSRange substringRange, NSRange enclosingRange, BOOL *stop) {
        [arrayOfCharacters addObject:substring];
    }];

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 23 '14 at 13:16

0

Because your string doesn't have a string @"" this is an empty string. What you want to do is separate the characters like so:

NSMutableArray *characters = [[NSMutableArray alloc] init];

for (int i=0; i < [YOUR_STRING length]; i++) {
    NSString *ichar  = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"%c", [YOUR_STRING characterAtIndex:i]];
    [characters addObject:ichar];
}

Characters will now contain each letter.

answered Apr 23 '14 at 13:16

CW0007007

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Thank you ! Will it also work for non ASCII characters ? – Pop Flamingo Apr 23 '14 at 13:21
Believe so as it's just iterating over characters. If this works mark as answer so that other people know. :-) – CW0007007 Apr 23 '14 at 13:21
Yes I'll do that as soon as possible ! Thank you ! – Pop Flamingo Apr 23 '14 at 13:22
No problems. Any issues just let me know .. – CW0007007 Apr 23 '14 at 13:24
It really worked ! Apparently there isn't any problem, but there is something that I am finding strange, in the table, all the ASCII characters are of type _NSCFConstantString* while non ASCII characters (like "ö") are _NSCFCString* is it normal ? – Pop Flamingo Apr 23 '14 at 13:36
See: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/10220683/what-is-the-different-between-nscfstring-and-nsconstantstring – CW0007007 Apr 23 '14 at 13:58

Objective-C : componentsSeparatedByString:@"" doesn't work as I am expecting it

2 Answers2