Check if array contains part of a string in Swift?

Question

I have an array containing a number of strings. I have used contains() (see below) to check if a certain string exists in the array however I would like to check if part of a string is in the array?

itemsArray = ["Google, Goodbye, Go, Hello"]

searchToSearch = "go"

if contains(itemsArray, stringToSearch) {
    NSLog("Term Exists")
}
else {
    NSLog("Can't find term")
}

The above code simply checks if a value is present within the array in its entirety however I would like to find "Google, Google and Go"

Martin R · Accepted Answer · 2016-12-29 16:53:32Z

32

First of all, you have defined an array with a single string. What you probably want is

let itemsArray = ["Google", "Goodbye", "Go", "Hello"]

Then you can use contains(array, predicate) and rangeOfString() – optionally with .CaseInsensitiveSearch – to check each string in the array if it contains the search string:

let itemExists = contains(itemsArray) {
    $0.rangeOfString(searchToSearch, options: .CaseInsensitiveSearch) !=  nil
}

println(itemExists) // true

Or, if you want an array with the matching items instead of a yes/no result:

let matchingTerms = filter(itemsArray) {
    $0.rangeOfString(searchToSearch, options: .CaseInsensitiveSearch) !=  nil
}

println(matchingTerms) // [Google, Goodbye, Go]

Update for Swift 3:

let itemExists = itemsArray.contains(where: {
    $0.range(of: searchToSearch, options: .caseInsensitive) != nil
})
print(itemExists)

let matchingTerms = itemsArray.filter({
    $0.range(of: searchToSearch, options: .caseInsensitive) != nil
})
print(matchingTerms)

edited Dec 29, 2016 at 16:53

answered Jun 14, 2015 at 10:17

Martin R

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2 Comments

mfaani Over a year ago

why does the contains have a throw? Isn't it either true or false?

Martin R Over a year ago

@Honey: You can pass a throwing closure to the contains() method. If the closure throws an error then it is rethrown by contains(). – Compare stackoverflow.com/questions/43305051/….

Amit89 · Accepted Answer · 2015-06-14 11:04:30Z

31

Try like this.

let itemsArray = ["Google", "Goodbye", "Go", "Hello"]
let searchToSearch = "go"

let filteredStrings = itemsArray.filter({(item: String) -> Bool in

     var stringMatch = item.lowercaseString.rangeOfString(searchToSearch.lowercaseString)
     return stringMatch != nil ? true : false
})

filteredStrings will contain the list of strings having matched sub strings.

In Swift Array struct provides filter method, which will filter a provided array based on filtering text criteria.

edited Jun 14, 2015 at 11:04

answered Jun 14, 2015 at 10:16

Amit89

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4 Comments

Daniel Bramhall Over a year ago

Thanks for that. How would I explicitly check if the array had anything in it as a result of the search?

Amit89 Over a year ago

If i understand your question correctly, you can use count to check wether anything there in the result array filteredStrings. Use this - filteredStrings.count

Hammad Tariq Over a year ago

In Swift 4.0 rangeOfString is changed to range(of: "string") and lowercaseString is changed to lowerCased()

Shahbaz Saleem Over a year ago

I have problem with filter time using this solution. I have an array of Type [Articles] with 1000+ elements and I have to search in description of that article and the description of each article is 1500+ words. filtering is taking too much time. Around 2-3 seconds.

Ashok R · Accepted Answer · 2016-11-03 11:02:54Z

15

Try like this.

Swift 3.0

import UIKit

let itemsArray = ["Google", "Goodbye", "Go", "Hello"]

var filterdItemsArray = [String]()


func filterContentForSearchText(searchText: String) {
    filterdItemsArray = itemsArray.filter { item in
        return item.lowercased().contains(searchText.lowercased())
    }
}

filterContentForSearchText(searchText: "Go")
print(filterdItemsArray)

Output

["Google", "Goodbye", "Go"]

answered Nov 3, 2016 at 11:02

Ashok R

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1 Comment

Eric Aya Over a year ago

Please do not post the same answer multiple times. If a question already has an existing answer elsewhere, then flag the question as duplicate instead of answering again. Thanks.

AnupamChugh · Accepted Answer · 2019-09-03 07:56:30Z

10

In Swift 5 with better readability :

let itemsArray = ["Google", "Goodbye", "Go", "Hello"]
let searchString = "Googled"

let result = itemsArray.contains(where: searchString.contains)
print(result) //prints true in the above case.

answered Sep 3, 2019 at 7:56

AnupamChugh

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1 Comment

mitrenegade Over a year ago

this does the reverse search - which item in the itemsArray is a substring of the searchString. Nice use of syntax but this will not satisfy the original question, where the searchString should be a substring of one of the items.

Shakeel Ahmed · Accepted Answer · 2019-07-15 06:12:58Z

5

MARK:- Swift 5, Swift 4

//MARK:- You will find the array when its filter in "filteredStrings" variable you can check it by count if count > 0 its means you have find the results

let itemsArray = ["Google", "Goodbye", "Go", "Hello"]
let searchToSearch = "go"

let filteredStrings = itemsArray.filter({(item: String) -> Bool in

    let stringMatch = item.lowercased().range(of: searchToSearch.lowercased())
    return stringMatch != nil ? true : false
})
print(filteredStrings)


if (filteredStrings as NSArray).count > 0
{
    //Record found
    //MARK:- You can also print the result and can do any kind of work with them
}
else
{
    //Record Not found
}

edited Jul 15, 2019 at 6:12

answered Apr 9, 2019 at 7:35

Shakeel Ahmed

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Comments

Jasica Peter · Accepted Answer · 2018-06-26 15:49:51Z

1

func filterContentForSearchText(_ searchText: String) {
   filteredString = itemsArray.filter({( item : String) -> Bool in
            return  item.lowercased().contains(searchText.lowercased())
    })
}

answered Jun 26, 2018 at 15:49

Jasica Peter

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Comments

Community · Accepted Answer · 2019-03-21 10:38:51Z

0

In Swift 4:

    let itemsArray = ["Google", "Goodbye", "Go", "Hello"]
    let searchString = "Go"
    let filterArray = itemsArray.filter({ { $0.range(of: searchString, options: .caseInsensitive) != nil}
    })
    print(filterArray)

edited Mar 21, 2019 at 10:38

CommunityBot

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answered Mar 13, 2019 at 6:59

BIJU C

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Comments

Alex M · Accepted Answer · 2020-09-22 10:34:07Z

0

I had the same problem recently, didn't like most of these answers, solved it like this:

let keywords = ["doctor", "hospital"] //your array

func keywordsContain(text: String) -> Bool { // text: your search text
    return keywords.contains { (key) -> Bool in
        key.lowercased().contains(text.lowercased())
    }
}

This will also correctly trigger searches like "doc", which many of the above answers do not and is best practice. contains() is more performant than first() != nil source: https://www.avanderlee.com/swift/performance-collections/

answered Sep 22, 2020 at 10:34

Alex M

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Comments

AnderCover · Accepted Answer · 2023-04-06 22:37:45Z

-1

Swift 5

let itemExist = itemsArray.contains {
    $0.range(of: stringToSearch) != nil
}

edited Apr 6, 2023 at 22:37

AnderCover

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answered Mar 31, 2023 at 10:56

Nenad Nikolic

1

1 Comment

HangarRash Over a year ago

Please don't post duplicate answers.

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