Creating an extension to filter nils from an Array in Swift

Question

I\'m trying to write an extension to Array which will allow an array of optional T\'s to be transformed into an array of non-optional T\'s.

e.g. this could be writte

Answer 1

Swift 4

This works with Swift 4:

protocol OptionalType {
    associatedtype Wrapped
    var optional: Wrapped? { get }
}

extension Optional: OptionalType {
    var optional: Wrapped? { return self }
}

extension Sequence where Iterator.Element: OptionalType {
    func removeNils() -> [Iterator.Element.Wrapped] {
        return self.flatMap { $0.optional }
    }
}

Test:

class UtilitiesTests: XCTestCase {
    
    func testRemoveNils() {
        let optionalString: String? = nil
        let strings: [String?] = ["Foo", optionalString, "Bar", optionalString, "Baz"]
        XCTAssert(strings.count == 5)
        XCTAssert(strings.removeNils().count == 3)
        let integers: [Int?] = [2, nil, 4, nil, nil, 5]
        XCTAssert(integers.count == 6)
        XCTAssert(integers.removeNils().count == 3)
    }
}