Convert NSArray to NSString in Objective-C

Question

I am wondering how to convert an NSArray [@\"Apple\", @\"Pear \", 323, @\"Orange\"] to a string in Objective-C.

Answer 1

Objective C Solution

NSArray * array = @[@"1", @"2", @"3"];
NSString * stringFromArray = [[array valueForKey:@"description"] componentsJoinedByString:@"-"];   // "1-2-3"

Those who are looking for a solution in Swift

If the array contains strings, you can use the String's join method:

var array = ["1", "2", "3"]

let stringFromArray = "-".join(array) // "1-2-3"

In Swift 2:

var array = ["1", "2", "3"]

let stringFromArray = array.joinWithSeparator("-") // "1-2-3"

In Swift 3 & 4

var array = ["1", "2", "3"]

let stringFromArray = array.joined(separator: "-") // "1-2-3"

Answer 2

I think Sanjay's answer was almost there but i used it this way

NSArray *myArray = [[NSArray alloc] initWithObjects:@"Hello",@"World", nil];
NSString *greeting = [myArray componentsJoinedByString:@" "];
NSLog(@"%@",greeting);

Output :

2015-01-25 08:47:14.830 StringTest[11639:394302] Hello World

As Sanjay had hinted - I used method componentsJoinedByString from NSArray that does joining and gives you back NSString

BTW NSString has reverse method componentsSeparatedByString that does the splitting and gives you NSArray back .

Answer 3

I recently found a really good tutorial on Objective-C Strings:

http://ios-blog.co.uk/tutorials/objective-c-strings-a-guide-for-beginners/

And I thought that this might be of interest:

If you want to split the string into an array use a method called componentsSeparatedByString to achieve this:

NSString *yourString = @"This is a test string";
    NSArray *yourWords = [myString componentsSeparatedByString:@" "];

    // yourWords is now: [@"This", @"is", @"a", @"test", @"string"]

if you need to split on a set of several different characters, use NSString’s componentsSeparatedByCharactersInSet:

NSString *yourString = @"Foo-bar/iOS-Blog";
NSArray *yourWords = [myString componentsSeparatedByCharactersInSet:
                  [NSCharacterSet characterSetWithCharactersInString:@"-/"]
                ];

// yourWords is now: [@"Foo", @"bar", @"iOS", @"Blog"]

Note however that the separator string can’t be blank. If you need to separate a string into its individual characters, just loop through the length of the string and convert each char into a new string:

NSMutableArray *characters = [[NSMutableArray alloc] initWithCapacity:[myString length]];
for (int i=0; i < [myString length]; i++) {
    NSString *ichar  = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"%c", [myString characterAtIndex:i]];
    [characters addObject:ichar];
}