How do I check if a string contains another string in Objective-C?

Question

How can I check if a string (NSString) contains another smaller string?

I was hoping for something like:

NSString *string = @\"hello bla         


        

Answer 1

Since this seems to be a high-ranking result in Google, I want to add this:

iOS 8 and OS X 10.10 add the containsString: method to NSString. An updated version of Dave DeLong's example for those systems:

NSString *string = @"hello bla bla";
if ([string containsString:@"bla"]) {
    NSLog(@"string contains bla!");
} else {
    NSLog(@"string does not contain bla");
}

Answer 2

Swift 4 And Above

let str = "Hello iam midhun"

if str.contains("iam") {
  //contains substring
}
else {
  //doesn't contain substring
}

Objective-C

NSString *stringData = @"Hello iam midhun";

if ([stringData containsString:@"iam"]) {
    //contains substring
}
else {
    //doesn't contain substring
}

Answer 3

Try this:

Swift 4.1 , 4.2:

let stringData = "Black board"

//swift quick way and case sensitive
if stringData.contains("bla") {
    print("data contains string");
}

//case sensitive
if stringData.range(of: "bla",options: .caseInsensitive) != nil {
    print("data contains string");
}else {
    print("data does not contains string");
}

For Objective-C:

NSString *stringData = @"Black board";

//Quick way and case sensitive
if ([stringData containsString:@"bla"]) {
    NSLog(@"data contains string");
}

//Case Insensitive
if ([stringData rangeOfString:@"bla" options:NSCaseInsensitiveSearch].location != NSNotFound) {
   NSLog(@"data contains string");
}else {
   NSLog(@"data does not contain string");
}

Answer 4

For iOS 8.0+ and macOS 10.10+, you can use NSString's native containsString:.

For older versions of iOS and macOS, you can create your own (obsolete) category for NSString:

@interface NSString ( SubstringSearch )
    - (BOOL)containsString:(NSString *)substring;
@end

// - - - - 

@implementation NSString ( SubstringSearch )

- (BOOL)containsString:(NSString *)substring
{    
    NSRange range = [self rangeOfString : substring];
    BOOL found = ( range.location != NSNotFound );
    return found;
}

@end

Note: Observe Daniel Galasko's comment below regarding naming

Answer 5

NSString *categoryString = @"Holiday Event";
if([categoryString rangeOfString:@"Holiday"].location == NSNotFound)
{
    //categoryString does not contains Holiday
}
else
{
    //categoryString contains Holiday
}

Answer 6

If certain position of the string is needed, this code comes to place in Swift 3.0:

let string = "This is my string"
let substring = "my"

let position = string.range(of: substring)?.lowerBound