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"

Amit89 · Accepted Answer · 2015-06-14T11:04:30.230

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 '15 at 11:04

answered Jun 14 '15 at 10:16

Amit89

3,000
1
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27

Thanks for that. How would I explicitly check if the array had anything in it as a result of the search? – Daniel Bramhall Jun 16 '15 at 15:55
If i understand your question correctly, you can use count to check wether anything there in the result array filteredStrings. Use this - filteredStrings.count – Amit89 Jun 17 '15 at 06:10
2

In Swift 4.0 rangeOfString is changed to range(of: "string") and lowercaseString is changed to lowerCased() – Hammad Tariq Jun 14 '18 at 17:11
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. – Shahbaz Saleem Jan 04 '19 at 07:45

Martin R · Answer 2 · 2016-12-29T16:53:32.480

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)

why does the `contains` have a `throw`? Isn't it either true or false? — mfaani, Aug 22 '17 at 13:19
@Honey: You can pass a throwing closure to the contains() method. If the closure throws an error then it is rethrown by contains(). – Compare https://stackoverflow.com/questions/43305051/what-are-the-differences-between-throws-and-rethrows-in-swift. — Martin R, Aug 22 '17 at 13:22

score 15 · Answer 3 · answered Nov 03 '16 at 11:02

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 03 '16 at 11:02

Ashok R

19,892
8
68
68

1

Please do not post the [same answer](http://stackoverflow.com/a/40399381/2227743) multiple times. If a question already has an existing answer elsewhere, then *flag the question as duplicate* instead of answering again. Thanks. – Eric Aya Nov 03 '16 at 11:07

score 10 · Answer 4 · answered Sep 03 '19 at 07:56

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 03 '19 at 07:56

AnupamChugh

1,779
1
25
36

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. – mitrenegade Jul 14 '22 at 20:34

Shakeel Ahmed · Answer 5 · 2019-07-15T06:12:58.160

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
}

score 1 · Answer 6 · answered Jun 26 '18 at 15:49

1

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

answered Jun 26 '18 at 15:49

Jasica Peter

91
10

score 0 · Answer 7 · edited Mar 21 '19 at 10:38

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 '19 at 10:38

Community

1
1

answered Mar 13 '19 at 06:59

BIJU C

21
5

score 0 · Answer 8 · answered Sep 22 '20 at 10:34

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/

score -1 · Answer 9 · edited Apr 06 '23 at 22:37

-1

Swift 5

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

edited Apr 06 '23 at 22:37

AnderCover

2,488
3
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42

answered Mar 31 '23 at 10:56

Nenad Nikolic

1

1

Please don't post duplicate answers. – HangarRash Apr 06 '23 at 22:41

Check if array contains part of a string in Swift?

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