NSDictionary order does not match allKeys order

Question

I've created NSDictionary of sorted arrays by name organized by first letter (see results below). When I use the command allKeys for that same Dictionary, the order is not the same. I need the order the same because this NSDictionary is used in UITableview and should be alphabetical.

 - (NSDictionary*) dictionaryNames {

NSDictionary *dictionary;
NSMutableArray *objects = [[NSMutableArray alloc] init];

NSArray *letters = self.exhibitorFirstLetter;
NSArray *names = self.exhibitorName;

for (NSInteger i = 0; i < [self.exhibitorFirstLetter count]; i++)
{
    [objects addObject:[[NSMutableArray alloc] init]];
}

dictionary = [[NSDictionary alloc] initWithObjects: objects forKeys:letters];

for (NSString *name in names) { 
    NSString *firstLetter = [name substringToIndex:1];

    for (NSString *letter in letters) {  //z, b
        if ([firstLetter isEqualToString:letter]) {
            NSMutableArray *currentObjects = [dictionary objectForKey:letter];
            [currentObjects addObject:name];
        }
    }

}

    NSLog(@"%@", dictionary);
NSLog(@"%@", [dictionary allKeys]);
return dictionary;

}

 B =     (
    "Baker's Drilling",
    "Brown Drilling"
);
C =     (
    "Casper Drilling"
);
J =     (
    "J's, LLC"
);
N =     (
    "Nelson Cleaning",
    "North's Drilling"
);
T =     (
    "Tim's Trucks"
);
Z =     (
    "Zach's Main",
    "Zeb's Service",
    "Zen's"
);

}

J,
T,
B,
N,
Z,
C

)

That's because NSDictionary keys are not ordered. If you want them ordered, put them in an array. — danielbeard, Mar 02 '14 at 02:34
possible duplicate of [Is NSDictionary key order guaranteed the same as initialized if it never changes?](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2496430/is-nsdictionary-key-order-guaranteed-the-same-as-initialized-if-it-never-changes), [NSDictionary allKeys -- does it always return the same order?](http://stackoverflow.com/q/9575387), [NSDictionary allKeys order](http://stackoverflow.com/q/17745212) — jscs, Mar 02 '14 at 03:12

score 4 · Answer 1 · answered Mar 02 '14 at 02:37

4

NSDictionary is not an ordered collection. There's no way to control how it orders things, and it may change completely depending on OS version, device type, and dictionary contents.

answered Mar 02 '14 at 02:37

Catfish_Man

41,261
11
67
84

score 1 · Answer 2 · edited Mar 01 '16 at 23:14

1

I just put the NSDictionary in sorted array:

- (NSArray*)sortAllKeys:(NSArray*)passedArray{
    NSArray* performSortOnKeys = [passedArray sortedArrayUsingSelector:@selector(localizedCaseInsensitiveCompare:)];
    return performSortOnKeys;
}

edited Mar 01 '16 at 23:14

pkamb

33,281
23
160
191

answered Mar 02 '14 at 14:16

Bachzen

323
2
8
22

NSDictionary order does not match allKeys order

2 Answers2

Linked

Related