SwiftDoc.org

The number of elements in the collection.

To check whether a collection is empty, use its isEmpty property instead of comparing count to zero. Unless the collection guarantees random-access performance, calculating count can be an O(n) operation.

Complexity: O(1) if the collection conforms to RandomAccessCollection; otherwise, O(n), where n is the length of the collection.

Declaration

The collection's "past the end" position---that is, the position one greater than the last valid subscript argument.

When you need a range that includes the last element of a collection, use the half-open range operator (..<) with endIndex. The ..< operator creates a range that doesn't include the upper bound, so it's always safe to use with endIndex. For example:

let numbers = [10, 20, 30, 40, 50]
if let index = numbers.firstIndex(of: 30) {
    print(numbers[index ..< numbers.endIndex])
}
// Prints "[30, 40, 50]"

If the collection is empty, endIndex is equal to startIndex.

Declaration

The first element of the collection.

If the collection is empty, the value of this property is nil.

let numbers = [10, 20, 30, 40, 50]
if let firstNumber = numbers.first {
    print(firstNumber)
}
// Prints "10"

Declaration

The indices that are valid for subscripting the collection, in ascending order.

A collection's indices property can hold a strong reference to the collection itself, causing the collection to be non-uniquely referenced. If you mutate the collection while iterating over its indices, a strong reference can cause an unexpected copy of the collection. To avoid the unexpected copy, use the index(after:) method starting with startIndex to produce indices instead.

var c = MyFancyCollection([10, 20, 30, 40, 50])
var i = c.startIndex
while i != c.endIndex {
    c[i] /= 5
    i = c.index(after: i)
}
// c == MyFancyCollection([2, 4, 6, 8, 10])

Declaration

A Boolean value indicating whether the collection is empty.

When you need to check whether your collection is empty, use the isEmpty property instead of checking that the count property is equal to zero. For collections that don't conform to RandomAccessCollection, accessing the count property iterates through the elements of the collection.

let horseName = "Silver"
if horseName.isEmpty {
    print("I've been through the desert on a horse with no name.")
} else {
    print("Hi ho, \(horseName)!")
}
// Prints "Hi ho, Silver!")

Complexity: O(1)

Declaration

The position of the first element in a nonempty collection.

If the collection is empty, startIndex is equal to endIndex.

Declaration

A value less than or equal to the number of elements in the collection.

Complexity: O(1) if the collection conforms to RandomAccessCollection; otherwise, O(n), where n is the length of the collection.

Declaration

Accesses a contiguous subrange of the collection's elements.

The accessed slice uses the same indices for the same elements as the original collection uses. Always use the slice's startIndex property instead of assuming that its indices start at a particular value.

This example demonstrates getting a slice of an array of strings, finding the index of one of the strings in the slice, and then using that index in the original array.

let streets = ["Adams", "Bryant", "Channing", "Douglas", "Evarts"]
let streetsSlice = streets[2 ..< streets.endIndex]
print(streetsSlice)
// Prints "["Channing", "Douglas", "Evarts"]"
 
let index = streetsSlice.firstIndex(of: "Evarts")    // 4
print(streets[index!])
// Prints "Evarts"

• Parameter bounds: A range of the collection's indices. The bounds of the range must be valid indices of the collection.

Complexity: O(1)

Declaration

Accesses the element at the specified position.

The following example accesses an element of an array through its subscript to print its value:

var streets = ["Adams", "Bryant", "Channing", "Douglas", "Evarts"]
print(streets[1])
// Prints "Bryant"

You can subscript a collection with any valid index other than the collection's end index. The end index refers to the position one past the last element of a collection, so it doesn't correspond with an element.

• Parameter position: The position of the element to access. position must be a valid index of the collection that is not equal to the endIndex property.

Complexity: O(1)

Declaration

Accesses the contiguous subrange of the collection's elements specified by a range expression.

The range expression is converted to a concrete subrange relative to this collection. For example, using a PartialRangeFrom range expression with an array accesses the subrange from the start of the range expression until the end of the array.

let streets = ["Adams", "Bryant", "Channing", "Douglas", "Evarts"]
let streetsSlice = streets[2...]
print(streetsSlice)
// ["Channing", "Douglas", "Evarts"]

The accessed slice uses the same indices for the same elements as the original collection uses. This example searches streetsSlice for one of the strings in the slice, and then uses that index in the original array.

let index = streetsSlice.firstIndex(of: "Evarts")    // 4
print(streets[index!])
// "Evarts"

Always use the slice's startIndex property instead of assuming that its indices start at a particular value. Attempting to access an element by using an index outside the bounds of the slice's indices may result in a runtime error, even if that index is valid for the original collection.

print(streetsSlice.startIndex)
// 2
print(streetsSlice[2])
// "Channing"
 
print(streetsSlice[0])
// error: Index out of bounds

• Parameter bounds: A range of the collection's indices. The bounds of the range must be valid indices of the collection.

Complexity: O(1)

Declaration

Declaration

Returns the distance between two indices.

Unless the collection conforms to the BidirectionalCollection protocol, start must be less than or equal to end.

Complexity: O(1) if the collection conforms to RandomAccessCollection; otherwise, O(k), where k is the resulting distance.

Declaration

Returns a subsequence by skipping elements while predicate returns true and returning the remaining elements.

• Parameter predicate: A closure that takes an element of the sequence as its argument and returns true if the element should be skipped or false if it should be included. Once the predicate returns false it will not be called again.

Complexity: O(n), where n is the length of the collection.

Declaration

Returns a subsequence containing all but the given number of initial elements.

If the number of elements to drop exceeds the number of elements in the collection, the result is an empty subsequence.

let numbers = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
print(numbers.dropFirst(2))
// Prints "[3, 4, 5]"
print(numbers.dropFirst(10))
// Prints "[]"

• Parameter k: The number of elements to drop from the beginning of the collection. k must be greater than or equal to zero.

Complexity: O(1) if the collection conforms to RandomAccessCollection; otherwise, O(k), where k is the number of elements to drop from the beginning of the collection.

Declaration

Returns a subsequence containing all but the specified number of final elements.

If the number of elements to drop exceeds the number of elements in the collection, the result is an empty subsequence.

let numbers = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
print(numbers.dropLast(2))
// Prints "[1, 2, 3]"
print(numbers.dropLast(10))
// Prints "[]"

• Parameter k: The number of elements to drop off the end of the collection. k must be greater than or equal to zero.

Complexity: O(1) if the collection conforms to RandomAccessCollection; otherwise, O(n), where n is the length of the collection.

Declaration

Returns the first index in which an element of the collection satisfies the given predicate.

You can use the predicate to find an element of a type that doesn't conform to the Equatable protocol or to find an element that matches particular criteria. Here's an example that finds a student name that begins with the letter "A":

let students = ["Kofi", "Abena", "Peter", "Kweku", "Akosua"]
if let i = students.firstIndex(where: { $0.hasPrefix("A") }) {
    print("\(students[i]) starts with 'A'!")
}
// Prints "Abena starts with 'A'!"

• Parameter predicate: A closure that takes an element as its argument and returns a Boolean value that indicates whether the passed element represents a match.

Complexity: O(n), where n is the length of the collection.

Declaration

Offsets the given index by the specified distance.

The value passed as distance must not offset i beyond the bounds of the collection.

Complexity: O(1) if the collection conforms to RandomAccessCollection; otherwise, O(k), where k is the absolute value of distance.

Declaration

Offsets the given index by the specified distance, or so that it equals the given limiting index.

The value passed as distance must not offset i beyond the bounds of the collection, unless the index passed as limit prevents offsetting beyond those bounds.

Complexity: O(1) if the collection conforms to RandomAccessCollection; otherwise, O(k), where k is the absolute value of distance.

Declaration

Replaces the given index with its successor.

• Parameter i: A valid index of the collection. i must be less than endIndex.

Declaration

Replaces the given index with its successor.

• Parameter i: A valid index of the collection. i must be less than endIndex.

Declaration

Returns an index that is the specified distance from the given index.

The following example obtains an index advanced four positions from a string's starting index and then prints the character at that position.

let s = "Swift"
let i = s.index(s.startIndex, offsetBy: 4)
print(s[i])
// Prints "t"

The value passed as distance must not offset i beyond the bounds of the collection.

Complexity: O(1) if the collection conforms to RandomAccessCollection; otherwise, O(k), where k is the absolute value of distance.

Declaration

Returns an index that is the specified distance from the given index, unless that distance is beyond a given limiting index.

The following example obtains an index advanced four positions from a string's starting index and then prints the character at that position. The operation doesn't require going beyond the limiting s.endIndex value, so it succeeds.

let s = "Swift"
if let i = s.index(s.startIndex, offsetBy: 4, limitedBy: s.endIndex) {
    print(s[i])
}
// Prints "t"

The next example attempts to retrieve an index six positions from s.startIndex but fails, because that distance is beyond the index passed as limit.

let j = s.index(s.startIndex, offsetBy: 6, limitedBy: s.endIndex)
print(j)
// Prints "nil"

The value passed as distance must not offset i beyond the bounds of the collection, unless the index passed as limit prevents offsetting beyond those bounds.

Complexity: O(1) if the collection conforms to RandomAccessCollection; otherwise, O(k), where k is the absolute value of distance.

Declaration

Returns the position immediately after the given index.

The successor of an index must be well defined. For an index i into a collection c, calling c.index(after: i) returns the same index every time.

• Parameter i: A valid index of the collection. i must be less than endIndex.

Declaration

Returns an array containing the results of mapping the given closure over the sequence's elements.

In this example, map is used first to convert the names in the array to lowercase strings and then to count their characters.

let cast = ["Vivien", "Marlon", "Kim", "Karl"]
let lowercaseNames = cast.map { $0.lowercased() }
// 'lowercaseNames' == ["vivien", "marlon", "kim", "karl"]
let letterCounts = cast.map { $0.count }
// 'letterCounts' == [6, 6, 3, 4]

• Parameter transform: A mapping closure. transform accepts an element of this sequence as its parameter and returns a transformed value of the same or of a different type.

Declaration

Returns a subsequence, up to the specified maximum length, containing the initial elements of the collection.

If the maximum length exceeds the number of elements in the collection, the result contains all the elements in the collection.

let numbers = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
print(numbers.prefix(2))
// Prints "[1, 2]"
print(numbers.prefix(10))
// Prints "[1, 2, 3, 4, 5]"

• Parameter maxLength: The maximum number of elements to return. maxLength must be greater than or equal to zero.

Complexity: O(1) if the collection conforms to RandomAccessCollection; otherwise, O(k), where k is the number of elements to select from the beginning of the collection.

Declaration

Returns a subsequence from the start of the collection through the specified position.

The resulting subsequence includes the element at the position end. The following example searches for the index of the number 40 in an array of integers, and then prints the prefix of the array up to, and including, that index:

let numbers = [10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60]
if let i = numbers.firstIndex(of: 40) {
    print(numbers.prefix(through: i))
}
// Prints "[10, 20, 30, 40]"

Using the prefix(through:) method is equivalent to using a partial closed range as the collection's subscript. The subscript notation is preferred over prefix(through:).

if let i = numbers.firstIndex(of: 40) {
    print(numbers[...i])
}
// Prints "[10, 20, 30, 40]"

• Parameter end: The index of the last element to include in the resulting subsequence. end must be a valid index of the collection that is not equal to the endIndex property.

Complexity: O(1)

Declaration

Returns a subsequence from the start of the collection up to, but not including, the specified position.

The resulting subsequence does not include the element at the position end. The following example searches for the index of the number 40 in an array of integers, and then prints the prefix of the array up to, but not including, that index:

let numbers = [10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60]
if let i = numbers.firstIndex(of: 40) {
    print(numbers.prefix(upTo: i))
}
// Prints "[10, 20, 30]"

Passing the collection's starting index as the end parameter results in an empty subsequence.

print(numbers.prefix(upTo: numbers.startIndex))
// Prints "[]"

Using the prefix(upTo:) method is equivalent to using a partial half-open range as the collection's subscript. The subscript notation is preferred over prefix(upTo:).

if let i = numbers.firstIndex(of: 40) {
    print(numbers[..<i])
}
// Prints "[10, 20, 30]"

• Parameter end: The "past the end" index of the resulting subsequence. end must be a valid index of the collection.

Complexity: O(1)

Declaration

Returns a subsequence containing the initial elements until predicate returns false and skipping the remaining elements.

• Parameter predicate: A closure that takes an element of the sequence as its argument and returns true if the element should be included or false if it should be excluded. Once the predicate returns false it will not be called again.

Complexity: O(n), where n is the length of the collection.

Declaration

Returns a random element of the collection.

Call randomElement() to select a random element from an array or another collection. This example picks a name at random from an array:

let names = ["Zoey", "Chloe", "Amani", "Amaia"]
let randomName = names.randomElement()!
// randomName == "Amani"

This method is equivalent to calling randomElement(using:), passing in the system's default random generator.

Complexity: O(1) if the collection conforms to RandomAccessCollection; otherwise, O(n), where n is the length of the collection.

Declaration

Returns a random element of the collection, using the given generator as a source for randomness.

Call randomElement(using:) to select a random element from an array or another collection when you are using a custom random number generator. This example picks a name at random from an array:

let names = ["Zoey", "Chloe", "Amani", "Amaia"]
let randomName = names.randomElement(using: &myGenerator)!
// randomName == "Amani"

• Parameter generator: The random number generator to use when choosing a random element.

Complexity: O(1) if the collection conforms to RandomAccessCollection; otherwise, O(n), where n is the length of the collection.

Note: The algorithm used to select a random element may change in a future version of Swift. If you're passing a generator that results in the same sequence of elements each time you run your program, that sequence may change when your program is compiled using a different version of Swift.

Declaration

Returns the longest possible subsequences of the collection, in order, that don't contain elements satisfying the given predicate.

The resulting array consists of at most maxSplits + 1 subsequences. Elements that are used to split the sequence are not returned as part of any subsequence.

The following examples show the effects of the maxSplits and omittingEmptySubsequences parameters when splitting a string using a closure that matches spaces. The first use of split returns each word that was originally separated by one or more spaces.

let line = "BLANCHE:   I don't want realism. I want magic!"
print(line.split(whereSeparator: { $0 == " " }))
// Prints "["BLANCHE:", "I", "don\'t", "want", "realism.", "I", "want", "magic!"]"

The second example passes 1 for the maxSplits parameter, so the original string is split just once, into two new strings.

print(line.split(maxSplits: 1, whereSeparator: { $0 == " " }))
// Prints "["BLANCHE:", "  I don\'t want realism. I want magic!"]"

The final example passes false for the omittingEmptySubsequences parameter, so the returned array contains empty strings where spaces were repeated.

print(line.split(omittingEmptySubsequences: false, whereSeparator: { $0 == " " }))
// Prints "["BLANCHE:", "", "", "I", "don\'t", "want", "realism.", "I", "want", "magic!"]"

Complexity: O(n), where n is the length of the collection.

Declaration

Returns a subsequence, up to the given maximum length, containing the final elements of the collection.

If the maximum length exceeds the number of elements in the collection, the result contains all the elements in the collection.

let numbers = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
print(numbers.suffix(2))
// Prints "[4, 5]"
print(numbers.suffix(10))
// Prints "[1, 2, 3, 4, 5]"

• Parameter maxLength: The maximum number of elements to return. The value of maxLength must be greater than or equal to zero.

Complexity: O(1) if the collection conforms to RandomAccessCollection; otherwise, O(n), where n is the length of the collection.

Declaration

Returns a subsequence from the specified position to the end of the collection.

The following example searches for the index of the number 40 in an array of integers, and then prints the suffix of the array starting at that index:

let numbers = [10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60]
if let i = numbers.firstIndex(of: 40) {
    print(numbers.suffix(from: i))
}
// Prints "[40, 50, 60]"

Passing the collection's endIndex as the start parameter results in an empty subsequence.

print(numbers.suffix(from: numbers.endIndex))
// Prints "[]"

Using the suffix(from:) method is equivalent to using a partial range from the index as the collection's subscript. The subscript notation is preferred over suffix(from:).

if let i = numbers.firstIndex(of: 40) {
    print(numbers[i...])
}
// Prints "[40, 50, 60]"

• Parameter start: The index at which to start the resulting subsequence. start must be a valid index of the collection.

Complexity: O(1)

Declaration