String matching objective-c

Question

I need to match my string in this way: *myString* where * mean any substring. which method should I use?

can you help me, please?

@Mitch Wheat, it's "which method should I use?" "can you help me, please" is probably rhetorical, though I guess you could answer that too. — Dan Rosenstark, Dec 21 '10 at 00:08

Dan Rosenstark · Accepted Answer · 2013-04-03T15:28:36.467

25

If it's for iPhone OS 3.2 or later, use NSRegularExpressionSearch.

NSString *regEx = [NSString stringWithFormat:@".*%@.*", yourSearchString];
NSRange range = [stringToSearch rangeOfString:regEx options:NSRegularExpressionSearch];
if (range.location != NSNotFound) {

}

edited Apr 03 '13 at 15:28

answered Dec 21 '10 at 00:16

Dan Rosenstark

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I try to use your code but it don't work, but if I use in this way: NSRange range = [@"hello pippo" rangeOfString:@".*pi.*" options:NSRegularExpressionSearch]; it work!! Why? In particular if I use regEx to rangeOfString id don't work!?!?!?! – Dany Dec 21 '10 at 10:03
1

I noticed that it don't work if textView.text is only a word!! – Dany Dec 21 '10 at 10:13
@user536926 sorry fixing now. – Dan Rosenstark Dec 22 '10 at 05:37

NSGod · Answer 2 · 2013-09-21T18:14:37.240

You can't do an actual search using a * (wildcard character), but you can usually do something that is equivalent:

Equivalent to searching for theTerm*:

if ([theString hasPrefix:@"theTerm"]) {

Equivalent to searching for *theTerm:

if ([theString hasSuffix:@"theTerm"]) {

Or, using the category on NSString shown below, the following is equivalent to searching for *theTerm*:

if ([theString containsString:@"theTerm"]) {

A category is simply a new method (like a function) that we add to class. I wrote the following one because it generally makes more sense to me to think of one string containing another rather than dealing with NSRanges.

// category on NSString
@interface NSString (MDSearchAdditions)
- (BOOL)containsString:(NSString *)aString;
@end

@implementation NSString (MDSearchAdditions)

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

@end

for containsString you can just do `return [self rangeOfString:aString].location != NSNotFound;` — user102008, Jul 06 '11 at 04:26

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Feb 27 '14 at 17:36

0

If you need something more evolved, try https://github.com/dblock/objc-ngram.

answered Feb 27 '14 at 17:36

dB.

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String matching objective-c

3 Answers3