Swift Sort String Arrays: Closure Examples

Sort arrays with the sort method. Use funcs and closures to compare Strings and Ints.

Sort. A string array contains animal names. They come in a jumbled order: zebra, bird, cat. With sort, we organize these animals into a pattern.

With funcs, we can specify advanced comparison logic for sorting. With closures, we add logic with inline function bodies. We can even sort with a single operator.

Func example. Let us begin. This program uses a func called "before" to compare 2 strings. We call sort() with the before func name as the argument.

And: The animals array is sorted according to the logic in before. Strings are compared alphabetically.

Less than: This operator is implemented for 2 strings. With it, "A" precedes "B."

True: This is returned when the first argument comes before the second in sorted order.

Swift program that sorts array with func func before(value1: String, value2: String) -> Bool { // One string is alphabetically first. // ... True means value1 precedes value2. return value1 < value2; } var animals = ["walrus", "bird", "alligator", "zebra"] // Sort the array. animals.sort(by: before) // Display sorted array. for animal in animals { print(animal) } Output alligator bird walrus zebra

Descending, Int array. To implement a descending sort, we use a "greater than" operator. Here we also change to an Int array. We sort by the values of these integers.

Tip: The argument types in a func (one that is used for sorting) must match the array element types.

Swift program that sorts descending, Int array func descending(value1: Int, value2: Int) -> Bool { // A number precedes another if it is higher. // ... This is a descending sort. return value1 > value2; } var ids = [0, 10, 25, 100, 21, 22] ids.sort(by: descending) // Display results. for id in ids { print(id) } Output 100 25 22 21 10 0

Strings by length. Here we sort a string array based on the results of a function call. We sort on the count of characters in each string.

Result: The string array is sorted by length, from shortest (d) to longest (gggg).

Swift program that sorts strings by length func length(value1: String, value2: String) -> Bool { // Compare character count of the strings. return value1.characters.count < value2.characters.count } var values = ["yyy", "aa", "d", "gggg"] values.sort(by: length) // Display strings sorted by character count. print(values) Output ["d", "aa", "yyy", "gggg"]

Closure. A closure is an inline function block (and an environment with variables). In Swift we can pass a closure block to sort(). No separate func declaration is needed.

In: The in-keyword separates the return type from the return expression. So "Bool in" is used to return a Bool based on the comparison.

Arguments: The arguments of a closure expression can be specified in the same way as in a func.

Swift program that uses sort, closure syntax // An unordered string array. var values = ["DEF", "ABC", "XYZ", "GHI"] // Sort strings in descending alphabetical order. // ... Use closure for sort method. values.sort(by: { (value1: String, value2: String) -> Bool in return value1 > value2 }) print(values) Output ["XYZ", "GHI", "DEF", "ABC"]

Syntax. A closure can be specified with many syntax forms. Swift provides many reduced forms—these save us from typing characters. The short forms may be easier to read.

Example 1: This closure (which sorts "values") omits the Int argument type of the elements in the array.

Example 2: This closure removes the "return" keyword. Typing "return" requires six key presses.

Example 3: The special variables $0 and $1 (and further) are available in closures. These are the first, second and further arguments.

Example 4: A single character can be used to sort. We specify the < operator. We can also use > for the opposite direction.

Swift program that uses short sort syntax var values = [10, 0, 20] // Sort with short closure syntax. values.sort(by: { v1, v2 in return v1 < v2 } ) print(values) var values2 = [40, 0, 80] // The return keyword is not required. values2.sort(by: { v1, v2 in v1 < v2 } ) print(values2) var values3 = [50, 0, 90] // The special variables $0 and $1 are used. // ... These indicate the first and second arguments. values3.sort(by: { $0 < $1 } ) print(values3) var values4 = [20, 0, 40] // We can use ascending and descending sorts with a single char. values4.sort(by: <) print(values4) Output [0, 10, 20] [0, 40, 80] [0, 50, 90] [0, 20, 40]

Sort dictionary keys. A dictionary's keys cannot be sorted in-place. A dictionary is unordered. But we can get the keys and convert this to an array and sort that.

Here: We sort the keys from our dictionary in alphabetical order. Then we loop over those keys and access the values.

Swift program that uses sort on dictionary keys // Create a dictionary. let animals = ["bird": 0, "zebra": 9, "ant": 1] // Get the array from the keys property. var copy = Array(animals.keys) // Sort from low to high (alphabetical order). copy.sort(by: <) // Loop over sorted keys. for key in copy { // Get value for this key. if let value = animals[key] { print("Key = \(key), Value = \(value)") } } Output Key = ant, Value = 1 Key = bird, Value = 0 Key = zebra, Value = 9

A review. Sorting uses a func that returns true or false. This func tells us whether the first element comes before the second. With funcs and closures in Swift, we simplify custom sorts.

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Swift Sort String Arrays: Closure Examples

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