how to check if string contains arabic character

Question

I want to check whether string contain arabic text or not.

I tried this all answers but nothing is working.

Can some one let me know what regular expression should I use?

nickNameTF.text = @"eweسبيب";
NSLog(@"nickNameTF.textnickNameTF.text===%@", nickNameTF.text);
NSString *emailRegex = @"\p{Arabic}";
NSPredicate *emailTest = [NSPredicate predicateWithFormat:@"SELF MATCHES %@", emailRegex];


if ([emailTest evaluateWithObject:nickNameTF.text]) {
    DTAlertView *myAl = [DTAlertView alertViewWithTitle:localize(@"myErr") message:localize(@"srNicc") delegate:nil cancelButtonTitle:localize(@"dismiss") positiveButtonTitle:nil];
    [myAl setDismissAnimationWhenButtonClicked:DTAlertViewAnimationSlideTop];
    [myAl showWithAnimation:DTAlertViewAnimationSlideBottom];

    nickNameTF.enabled = YES;
    nickNameTF.userInteractionEnabled = YES;

}

nickNameTF.text = @"يسيس";
// nickNameTF.text = @"adsيسيس";
// nickNameTF.text = @"ads";
NSLog(@"nickNameTF.textnickNameTF.text===%@", nickNameTF.text);
NSString *emailRegex = @"\\p{Arabic}";
NSPredicate *emailTest = [NSPredicate predicateWithFormat:@"SELF MATCHES %@", emailRegex];

if (![emailTest evaluateWithObject:nickNameTF.text]) {
    NSLog(@"not trueeeee");
}

if ([emailTest evaluateWithObject:nickNameTF.text]) {
    NSLog(@"trueeeee");
}

Have you tried using the code here? http://stackoverflow.com/questions/30355526/ios-regular-expression-arabic — nhahtdh, Jul 16 '15 at 10:34
@stribizhev : I use `\\p{Arabic}` now but still no alertview.. — Fahim Parkar, Jul 16 '15 at 10:36
@stribizhev : can u check my if condition? is it right? can u post full code that works with you? — Fahim Parkar, Jul 16 '15 at 11:07
This works for me: `NSString * emailRegex = @"(?s).*\\p{Arabic}.*"; NSPredicate * emailTest = [NSPredicate predicateWithFormat:@"SELF MATCHES %@", emailRegex];`, see nhahtdh's answer. — Wiktor Stribiżew, Jul 16 '15 at 11:52
@stribizhev : for me its not working... any gues? can u post full code? I want to check whether string contains any arabic character... — Fahim Parkar, Jul 16 '15 at 11:56
@stribizhev : check my updated question... i check with all three option.. it gives me not trueee for all... — Fahim Parkar, Jul 16 '15 at 11:58
Here is my [sample code that is working for me](http://www.tutorialspoint.com/compile_objective-c_online.php?PID=0Bw_CjBb95KQMUGdIenE2amg0YlU). — Wiktor Stribiżew, Jul 16 '15 at 12:01

nhahtdh · Accepted Answer · 2015-07-17T06:41:34.127

NSPredicate

Following the documentation, the code should be written as:

NSPredicate *emailTest =
    [NSPredicate predicateWithFormat: @"SELF MATCHES %@", @"'\\\\p{Arabic}'"];

Your current code is missing the single quotes around the regular expression. You also need to double escape \, since there are 2 layers of escape: one is string literal syntax of Objective-C, and the other is string literal syntax of NSPredicate.

Since you want to check whether the string contains an Arabic character, the regex should be

(?s).*\p{Arabic}.*

(?s) is an inline flag which makes . matches any code point without exception.

Plugging it in the code above:

NSPredicate *emailTest =
        [NSPredicate predicateWithFormat: @"SELF MATCHES %@", @"'(?s).*\\\\p{Arabic}.*'"];

In predicate format string syntax, only MATCHES works with regex, and it asserts that the whole string matches the regex, so the regex needs to be written to match the whole string.

NSRegularExpression

Alternatively, you can use firstMatchInString:options:range: in NSRegularExpression.

In this method, you only need to escape once in Objective-C string literal. Since the method will search for a matching substring, your regex doesn't have to be written to match the whole string.

Modifying from the example code in the documentation:

NSError *error = NULL;
NSRegularExpression *regex = [NSRegularExpression regularExpressionWithPattern:@"\\p{Arabic}"
                                                                       options:0
                                                                         error:&error];
NSTextCheckingResult *match = [regex firstMatchInString:nickNameTF.text
                                                options:0
                                                  range:NSMakeRange(0, [nickNameTF.text length])];
if (match) {
    // If there is an Arabic character
}

score 9 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 14 '16 at 04:58

I wrote the @nhahtdh answer in swift :)

var str = "منص••"
var str2 = "منص"
var str3 = "Hello منص••"
let predicate = NSPredicate(format: "SELF MATCHES %@", "(?s).*\\p{Arabic}.*")

if predicate.evaluateWithObject(str3) {
    print("arabic")
}

// if you need to Left to right flow
let addLTR = "\u{200E}\(str3)"

score 4 · Answer 3 · answered Jul 22 '18 at 17:31

Convenient way using extension

extension String {
    var isArabic: Bool {
        let predicate = NSPredicate(format: "SELF MATCHES %@", "(?s).*\\p{Arabic}.*")
        return predicate.evaluate(with: self)
    }
}

And you can just use something like following:

var str = "منص••"
if str.isArabic {
    print("Arabic")
}

how to check if string contains arabic character

3 Answers3

NSPredicate

NSRegularExpression