How to parse strings in Objective C

Question

Can someone help me to extract int timestamp value from this string "/Date(1242597600000)/" in Objective C

I would like to get 1242597600000.

Thx

DefenestrationDay · Accepted Answer · 2011-08-22 06:43:36Z

15

One simple method:

NSString *timestampString = @"\/Date(1242597600000)\/";
NSArray *components = [timestampString componentsSeparatedByString:@"("];
NSString *afterOpenBracket = [components objectAtIndex:1];
components = [afterOpenBracket componentsSeparatedByString:@")"];
NSString *numberString = [components objectAtIndex:0];
long timeStamp = [numberString longValue];

Alternatively if you know the string will always be the same length and format, you could use:

NSString *numberString = [timestampString substringWithRange:NSMakeRange(7,13)];

And another method:

NSRange openBracket = [timestampString rangeOfString:@"("];
NSRange closeBracket = [timestampString rangeOfString:@")"];
NSRange numberRange = NSMakeRange(openBracket.location + 1, closeBracket.location - openBracket.location - 1);
NSString *numberString = [timestampString substringWithRange:numberRange];

edited Aug 22, 2011 at 6:43

DefenestrationDay

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answered Jun 2, 2009 at 9:14

Tom Jefferys

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1 Comment

jrdioko Over a year ago

Edited to change NSRangeMake to NSMakeRange.

Abizern · Accepted Answer · 2011-05-25 18:21:34Z

14

There's more than one way to do it. Here's a suggestion using an NSScanner;

NSString *dateString = @"\/Date(1242597600000)\/";
NSScanner *dateScanner = [NSScanner scannerWithString:dateString];
NSInteger timestamp;

if (!([dateScanner scanInteger:&timestamp])) {
    // scanInteger returns NO if the extraction is unsuccessful
    NSLog(@"Unable to extract string");
}

// If no error, then timestamp now contains the extracted numbers.

edited May 25, 2011 at 18:21

answered Jun 2, 2009 at 11:40

Abizern

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2 Comments

monowerker Over a year ago

IMO NSScanner is the way to do it. I'm an NSScanner junkie =)

Nikolai Ruhe Over a year ago

This does not extract the number. It fails because of the \/Date( prefix.

Nikolai Ruhe · Accepted Answer · 2009-06-04 16:05:20Z

4

NSCharacterSet* nonDigits = [[NSCharacterSet decimalDigitCharacterSet] invertedSet];
NSString* digitString = [timestampString stringByTrimmingCharactersInSet:nonDigits];
return [digitString longValue];

edited Jun 4, 2009 at 16:05

answered Jun 2, 2009 at 13:04

Nikolai Ruhe

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