How to remove all the spaces and \n\r in a String?

Question

What is the most efficient way to remove all the spaces, \n and \r in a String in Swift?

I have tried:

for character in string.characters {

}

But it's a little inconvenient.

Answer 1

Swift 4:

let text = "This \n is a st\tri\rng"
let test = String(text.filter { !" \n\t\r".contains($0) })

Output:

print(test) // Thisisastring

While Fahri's answer is nice, I prefer it to be pure Swift ;)

Answer 2

edit/update:

Swift 5.2 or later

We can use the new Character property isWhitespace

---

let textInput = "Line 1 \n Line 2 \n\r"
let result = textInput.filter { !$0.isWhitespace }

result  //  "Line1Line2"

---

extension StringProtocol where Self: RangeReplaceableCollection {
    var removingAllWhitespaces: Self {
        filter(\.isWhitespace.negated)
    }
    mutating func removeAllWhitespaces() {
        removeAll(where: \.isWhitespace)
    }
}

---

extension Bool {
    var negated: Bool { !self }
}

---

let textInput = "Line 1 \n Line 2 \n\r"
let result = textInput.removingAllWhitespaces   //"Line1Line2"

var test = "Line 1 \n Line 2 \n\r"
test.removeAllWhitespaces()
print(test)  // "Line1Line2"

Note: For older Swift versions syntax check edit history

Answer 3

For the sake of completeness this is the Regular Expression version

let string = "What is the most efficient way to remove all the spaces and \n \r \tin a String in Swift"
let stringWithoutWhitespace = string.replacingOccurrences(of: "\\s", with: "", options: .regularExpression)
// -> "WhatisthemostefficientwaytoremoveallthespacesandinaStringinSwift"

Answer 4

For Swift 4:

let myString = "This \n is a st\tri\rng"
let trimmedString = myString.components(separatedBy: .whitespacesAndNewlines).joined()

Answer 5

If by spaces you mean whitespaces, be aware that more than one whitespace character exists, although they all look the same.

The following solution takes that into account:

Swift 5:

 extension String {

    func removingAllWhitespaces() -> String {
        return removingCharacters(from: .whitespaces)
    }

    func removingCharacters(from set: CharacterSet) -> String {
        var newString = self
        newString.removeAll { char -> Bool in
            guard let scalar = char.unicodeScalars.first else { return false }
            return set.contains(scalar)
        }
        return newString
    }
}


let noNewlines = "Hello\nWorld".removingCharacters(from: .newlines)
print(noNewlines)

let noWhitespaces = "Hello World".removingCharacters(from: .whitespaces)
print(noWhitespaces)

Answer 6

Use this:

let aString: String = "This is my string"
let newString = aString.stringByReplacingOccurrencesOfString(" ", withString: "", options:[], range: nil)
print(newString)

Output : Thisismystring

Answer 7

If anyone is wondering why, despite of putting "\n" and "\r" into the set, "\r\n" is not removed from the string, it's because "\r\n" is treated by swift as one character.

Swift 4:

let text = "\r\n This \n is a st\tri\rng"
let test = String(text.filter { !"\r\n\n\t\r".contains($0) })

"\n" is not duplicated by accident

Answer 8

Suppose that you have this string : "some words \nanother word\n\r here something \tand something like \rmdjsbclsdcbsdilvb \n\rand finally this :)"

here the how to remove all possible space :

let possibleWhiteSpace:NSArray = [" ","\t", "\n\r", "\n","\r"] //here you add other types of white space
    var string:NSString = "some words \nanother word\n\r here something \tand something like \rmdjsbclsdcbsdilvb \n\rand finally this :)"
    print(string)// initial string with white space
    possibleWhiteSpace.enumerateObjectsUsingBlock { (whiteSpace, idx, stop) -> Void in
        string = string.stringByReplacingOccurrencesOfString(whiteSpace as! String, withString: "")
    }
    print(string)//resulting string

Let me know if this respond to your question :)

Answer 9

Swift 4:

let string = "Test\n with an st\tri\rng"
print(string.components(separatedBy: .whitespacesAndNewlines))
// Result: "Test with an string"

Answer 10

I just use this:

stringValue.replacingOccurrences(of: " ", with: "").replacingOccurrences(of: "\n", with: "")

Answer 11

Swift 4:

let text = "This \n is a st\tri\rng"
let cleanedText = text.filter { !" \n\t\r".characters.contains($0) }