Best way to unwrap optional type

Question

I have a situation

let a: Int? = getFromSomewhere()
if a ＝= nil {
    return
}
let b = a!

I don't like too many layer. But I think this is not elegant. Do you have more elegant way?

What does "elegant" even mean? — Why would you return if `a` is _not_ `nil`? Why would you force-unwrap `a` if it _is_ `nil`? Your code makes no sense. You would crash if you ran that code. — matt, Jul 14 '16 at 04:46

score 5 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 14 '16 at 04:48

5

Omit a, omit the nil check, omit the force-unwrap; one line:

guard let b = getFromSomewhere() else {return}

answered Jul 14 '16 at 04:48

matt

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 14 '16 at 04:46

You can also use guard or if let to unwrap optionals:

so instead of :

if a != nil {
    return
}
let b = a! 

if let a = getFromSomewhere() { 
 // Do what you want with a
} else {
  // a is nil
}

And with a guard statement :

guard let a = getFromSomewhere() else {
    NSLog("error a is nil")
    return 
} 

// You can use a now if it's not nil

2 Answers2