Adding the word "and" before the final item of an array in Swift

Question

I have a list of items in an array. The default output of the items is a simple list separated by commas. However, a proper sentence would include the word "and" between the second last and last item in the list.

Swift code:

    let myItem1: String = "Apple"
    let myItem2: String = "Bee"
    let myItem3: String = "Carrot"
    let myItem4: String = "Dog"

    let myArray = Set(arrayLiteral: myItem1, myItem2, myItem3, myItem4)

    //print("Item count:", myArray.count)
    print("Item list:", myArray.joinWithSeparator(", "))

Output:

The current output above is: "Apple, Dog, Carrot, Bee"

However, the proper output should be: "Apple, Dog, Carrot and Bee"

Question:

How can I modify the code so that the output includes the word "and" between the second last and last item in the list?

Remove the last item, join with `, ` as you do now. Add _and_ & last item. — Desdenova, Sep 23 '16 at 11:57
Related: [Join an array of strings with a different final delimiter](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/39496725/join-an-array-of-strings-with-a-different-final-delimiter) — Hamish, Sep 23 '16 at 12:58
Unrelated: Why is your set of strings named `myArray`? Also you should never have to use the `init(xyzLiteral:)` initialisers directly, they're meant for the compiler to use. In this case you can just do `let mySet : Set = [myItem1, myItem2, myItem3, myItem4]` — Hamish, Sep 23 '16 at 13:02
Thanks for the advice @Hamish. I guess `myArray` is better explained as `mySet`. `arrayLiteral` was used because Xcode suggested it and was retuning an error prior to that. — user4806509, Sep 23 '16 at 13:44

score 5 · Answer 1 · edited Sep 23 '16 at 12:22

5

Pop the last element and then add it onto the string later:

let last = myArray.popLast()

let str =  myArray.joinWithSeparator(", ") + " and " + last!

Editing:

    let myItem1: String = "Apple"
    let myItem2: String = "Bee"
    let myItem3: String = "Carrot"
    let myItem4: String = "Dog"

    let mySetArray = Set(arrayLiteral: myItem1, myItem2, myItem3, myItem4)

    var myArray = Array(mySetArray)

    let last = myArray.popLast()

    let str =  myArray.joinWithSeparator(", ") + " and " + last!
    print(str)

edited Sep 23 '16 at 12:22

Bista

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answered Sep 23 '16 at 11:50

Luka Jacobowitz

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Wow, same thought! – Bista Sep 23 '16 at 11:51
We might be both wrong though, because this way we get `,`s around the `and`. – Luka Jacobowitz Sep 23 '16 at 11:52
we're well caught. – Bista Sep 23 '16 at 11:53
Provided a fix! :) – Luka Jacobowitz Sep 23 '16 at 11:58
Excellant solution! – Bista Sep 23 '16 at 11:59
This doesn't appear to work. In Swift 2.2, Xcode 7.3, getting the error "Ambiguous reference to member 'popLast()'". Any ideas why this might be occurring? – user4806509 Sep 23 '16 at 12:09
@LukaJacobowitz- OP is using set instead of array. – Bista Sep 23 '16 at 12:17
That's correct, a Set is used to remove any duplicates in the array before giving the final list. Thanks. – user4806509 Sep 23 '16 at 12:22

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 23 '16 at 12:02

Try this code

    let myItem1: String = "Apple"
    let myItem2: String = "Bee"
    let myItem3: String = "Carrot"
    let myItem4: String = "Dog"

    let myArray = Set(arrayLiteral: myItem1, myItem2, myItem3, myItem4)

    //print("Item count:", myArray.count)
    print("Item list:", myArray.joinWithSeparator(", "))

    var joinedString : NSString =  myArray.joinWithSeparator(", ")

    let lastRangeOfComma = joinedString.rangeOfString(",", options: .BackwardsSearch)
    joinedString = joinedString.stringByReplacingCharactersInRange(lastRangeOfComma, withString: " and")
    print("\(joinedString)")

Hope this helps.

score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Sep 23 '16 at 12:47

2

Given an array of String(s)

let words = ["Apple", "Bee", "Carrot", "Dog"]

you can simply write

let sentence = words.dropLast().joinWithSeparator(", ") + " and " + words.last!

// Apple, Bee, Carrot and Dog

This code needs the words array to contain at least 2 elements to work properly.

answered Sep 23 '16 at 12:47

Luca Angeletti

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Quite sophisticated aprrocuh! – Oleg Gordiichuk Sep 23 '16 at 12:53

score 2 · Answer 4 · answered Jul 07 '22 at 09:44

2

You can now just do

ListFormatter.localizedString(byJoining: names)

This gives

Apple, Bee, Carrot and Dog

answered Jul 07 '22 at 09:44

buildsucceeded

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score 1 · Answer 5 · edited Sep 23 '16 at 12:28

var arrNames:[String] = ["Apple","Bee","Carrot","Dog"];
var allNames:String!


override func viewDidLoad() {
    super.viewDidLoad()

    allNames = arrNames[0]

    for i in 1...arrNames.count-1{
        if i == arrNames.count - 1 {
            allNames = allNames + " and " + arrNames[i]
        }else{
            allNames = allNames + ", " + arrNames[i]
        }
    }

    print(allNames)
}

score 1 · Answer 6 · answered Sep 23 '16 at 12:51

1

One of the possible ways is to use functional programming:

let myArray = ["Apple", "Bee", "Carrot", "Dog"]


let mapedArray = myArray.dropLast().map{
    myArray.indexOf($0) == myArray.count - 2 ? $0 + " and " + myArray[myArray.count - 1] : $0 + ","
}

answered Sep 23 '16 at 12:51

Oleg Gordiichuk

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Adding the word "and" before the final item of an array in Swift

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