expected ':' syntax error in my code

Question

My code is as follows:

NSString *str1 = @"Name";
NSString *str2 = @"Age";

NSArray *array = [[NSArray alloc] initWithObjects: str1, str2 count:2];

However when I Build & Run I get an exception thrown which says: Expected ':' right before the 'c' in count.

Why is this? I've tried inputting the ':' though I know that's syntactically incorrect and then Xcode asks me to close off with a ']' before count.

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 23 '12 at 13:30

initWithObjects:count: is for use with C arrays. In your case, you'll want to use initWithObjects: with a nil argument at the end:

NSString *str1 = @"Name";
NSString *str2 = @"Age";

NSArray *array = [[NSArray alloc] initWithObjects: str1, str2, nil];

score 3 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:48

3

If you just started learning Objective-C, just use the most convenient methods introduced recently:

NSArray* array= @[ str1, str2] ;

edited May 23 '17 at 11:48

Community

answered Oct 23 '12 at 13:35

Yuji

Yea I'm aware of this literal, however I want to understand the underlying mechanics of what I'm doing before I start shortcutting. Great suggestion though. – Ryan Oct 23 '12 at 15:18
Great. Note that the literal is turned by the compiler into a call to `+[NSArray initWithObjects:count]` which you tried originally. See http://clang.llvm.org/docs/ObjectiveCLiterals.html – Yuji Oct 23 '12 at 15:21

2 Answers2