All Sorted

Part of our job as developers is taking in a large amount of information and parsing it down to the components needed. I’ve always loved filtering and sorting through lists whether in excel or Salesforce or other content management systems. In my previous jobs, it was common to get a request like “We need a list of all the donors who gave more than $10,000 in the 2013 Fiscal Year under the age 45.” or “We need a list of 8th graders who live in Brooklyn.” I would then use a series of filters to parse down a database of donors or students into a usable result like a list of names and mailing addresses.

This post is a short cheatsheet on how to sort through data in dictionaries and arrays in Swift. In a future post, I will cover the unique steps needed to filter through JSONs.

Types of Sorting

Based on the information you have and what you need, there are different methods you can use to get your desired output. Below are some helpful methods to have in your toolbox when dealing with dictionaries.

filter: Greater Than or Less Than

	//Greater Than or Less Than
	var rentPerMonth = [["rent" : 2200], ["rent" : 2350], ["rent" : 2300], ["rent" : 2490]]

	var filteredRent = rentPerMonth.filter({
	$0["rent"] < 2000
	})

	print(filteredRent)

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Greater Than or Less Than

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This will display an empty array.

filter: Used for

	//Select nonchanging values like neighbordhoods – Good for buttons

	let neighborhoods: NSArray = ["Crown Heights", "Clinton Hill", "Sunset Park"]

	let fiteredNeighborhoods = (neighborhoods as! Array).filter { $0 == "Sunset Park" }

	print(fiteredNeighborhoods)

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Filter by Keyword

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containsString: Search by Keyword

	//Search by Keyword

	let savedApartments = [
	"apt1" : "The unit comes with stainless steel appliances, a full-sized refrigerator, plenty of storage, a gas oven, a gas range, and a dishwasher.The bedroom has hardwood floors and a window that opens.", "apt2" : "you will love it", "apt3" : "So many great amenities"]

	for (name, description) in savedApartments {
	if description.containsString("a window that opens") {
	print(name)
	}
	}

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Contains String: Search by Keyword

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