I was wondering what the simplest and cleanest to read a text file into an array of strings is in swift.
Text file:
line 1
line 2
line 3
line 4
Into an array like this:
var array = ["line 1","line 2","line 3","line 4"]
I would also like to know how to do a similar thing into struct like this:
Struct struct{
var name: String!
var email: String!
}
so take a text file and put it into struct's in an array.
Thanks for the help!
Updated for Swift 3
var arrayOfStrings: [String]?
do {
// This solution assumes you've got the file in your bundle
if let path = Bundle.main.path(forResource: "YourTextFilename", ofType: "txt"){
let data = try String(contentsOfFile:path, encoding: String.Encoding.utf8)
arrayOfStrings = data.components(separatedBy: "\n")
print(arrayOfStrings)
}
} catch let err as NSError {
// do something with Error
print(err)
}
First you must read the file:
let text = String(contentsOfFile: someFile, encoding: NSUTF8StringEncoding, error: nil)
Then you separate it by line using the componentsSeparatedByString method:
let lines : [String] = text.componentsSeparatedByString("\n")
\n as the new line marker. You can consider using NSCharacterSet.newlineCharacterSet() and componentsSeparatedByCharactersInSet.
try! let text = String(contentsOfFile: someFile!, encoding: NSUTF8StringEncoding) stackoverflow.com/questions/32663872/…Updated for Swift 5:
The const path contains the file path.
do {
let path: String = "file.txt"
let file = try String(contentsOfFile: path)
let text: [String] = file.components(separatedBy: "\n")
} catch let error {
Swift.print("Fatal Error: \(error.localizedDescription)")
}
If you want to print what's inside of file.txt line by line:
for line in text {
Swift.print(line)
}
Here is a way to convert a string to an array(Once you read in the text):
var myString = "Here is my string"
var myArray : [String] = myString.componentsSeparatedByString(" ")
This returns a string array with the following values: ["Here", "is", "my", "string"]
Swift 4:
do {
let contents = try String(contentsOfFile: file, encoding: String.Encoding.utf8)
let lines : [String] = contents.components(separatedBy: "\n")
} catch let error as NSError {
print(error.localizedDescription)
}
In Swift 3 for me worked like below:
Import Foundation
let lines : [String] = contents.components(separatedBy: "\n")
Updated so you don't need to hardcode the file path:
Because Xcode requires you to use unique filenames inside a project, we can simply search for the filename inside the main bundle. This approach eliminates the need to hardcode the file path, thereby preventing potential issues, especially when collaborating with others / working on different machines:
import Foundation
extension Bundle {
/// Creates an array of strings from a text file in the bundle.
/// - Parameters:
/// - fileName: The name of the text file.
/// - separatedBy: The string used to separate the contents of the file.
/// - Returns: An array of strings representing the contents of the file, separated by the specified separator.
/// - Note: Will raise a fatal error if the file cannot be located in the bundle or if the file cannot be decoded as a String.
func createArrayOfStringsFromTextFile(fileName file: String, separatedBy separator: String) -> [String] {
guard let url = self.url(forResource: file, withExtension: nil) else {
fatalError("Failed to locate '\(file)' in bundle.")
}
guard let fileContent = try? String(contentsOf: url) else {
fatalError("Failed to read content of '\(file)' as a string.")
}
let result: [String] = fileContent.components(separatedBy: separator)
return result
}
}
Usage:
let result: [String] = Bundle.main.createArrayOfStringsFromTextFile(fileName: "someFile.txt", separatedBy: "\n")
