Swift: Convert enum value to String?
StringEnumsSwiftString Problem Overview
Given the following enum:
enum Audience {
case Public
case Friends
case Private
}
How do I get the string "Public"
from the audience
constant below?
let audience = Audience.Public
String Solutions
Solution 1 - String
The idiomatic interface for 'getting a String' is to use the CustomStringConvertible
interface and access the description
getter. Define your enum
as:
enum Foo : CustomStringConvertible {
case Bing
case Bang
case Boom
var description : String {
switch self {
// Use Internationalization, as appropriate.
case .Bing: return "Bing"
case .Bang: return "Bang"
case .Boom: return "Boom"
}
}
}
In action:
> let foo = Foo.Bing
foo: Foo = Bing
> println ("String for 'foo' is \(foo)"
String for 'foo' is Bing
Updated: For Swift >= 2.0, replaced Printable
with CustomStringConvertible
Note: Using CustomStringConvertible
allows Foo
to adopt a different raw type. For example enum Foo : Int, CustomStringConvertible { ... }
is possible. This freedom can be useful.
Solution 2 - String
Not sure in which Swift version this feature was added, but right now (Swift 2.1) you only need this code:
enum Audience : String {
case public
case friends
case private
}
let audience = Audience.public.rawValue // "public"
> When strings are used for raw values, the implicit value for each case
> is the text of that case’s name.
>
> [...]
>
> enum CompassPoint : String {
> case north, south, east, west
> }
>
> In the example above, CompassPoint.south has an implicit raw value of
> "south", and so on.
>
> You access the raw value of an enumeration case with its rawValue
> property:
>
> let sunsetDirection = CompassPoint.west.rawValue
> // sunsetDirection is "west"
>Source.
Solution 3 - String
In swift 3, you can use this
var enumValue = Customer.Physics
var str = String(describing: enumValue)
Solution 4 - String
For now, I'll redefine the enum as:
enum Audience: String {
case Public = "Public"
case Friends = "Friends"
case Private = "Private"
}
so that I can do:
audience.toRaw() // "Public"
But, isn't this new enum definition redundant? Can I keep the initial enum definition and do something like:
audience.toString() // "Public"
Solution 5 - String
I like to use Printable
with Raw Values
.
enum Audience: String, Printable {
case Public = "Public"
case Friends = "Friends"
case Private = "Private"
var description: String {
return self.rawValue
}
}
Then we can do:
let audience = Audience.Public.description // audience = "Public"
or
println("The value of Public is \(Audience.Public)")
// Prints "The value of Public is Public"
Solution 6 - String
A swift 3 and above example if using Ints in Enum
public enum ECategory : Int{
case Attraction=0, FP, Food, Restroom, Popcorn, Shop, Service, None;
var description: String {
return String(describing: self)
}
}
let category = ECategory.Attraction
let categoryName = category.description //string Attraction
Solution 7 - String
Updated for the release of Xcode 7 GM. It works as one would hope now--thanks Apple!
enum Rank:Int {
case Ace = 1, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten, Jack, Queen, King
}
let r = Rank.Ace
print(r) // prints "Ace"
print("Rank: \(r)!") // prints "Rank: Ace!"
Solution 8 - String
It couldn't get simpler than this in Swift 2 and the latest Xcode 7 (no need to specify enum type, or .rawValue, descriptors etc...)
Updated for Swift 3 and Xcode 8:
enum Audience {
case Public
case Friends
case Private
}
let audience: Audience = .Public // or, let audience = Audience.Public
print(audience) // "Public"
Solution 9 - String
For anyone reading the example in "A Swift Tour" chapter of "The Swift Programming Language" and looking for a way to simplify the simpleDescription() method, converting the enum itself to String by doing String(self)
will do it:
enum Rank: Int
{
case Ace = 1 //required otherwise Ace will be 0
case Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten
case Jack, Queen, King
func simpleDescription() -> String {
switch self {
case .Ace, .Jack, .Queen, .King:
return String(self).lowercaseString
default:
return String(self.rawValue)
}
}
}
Solution 10 - String
After try few different ways, i found that if you don't want to use:
let audience = Audience.Public.toRaw()
You can still archive it using a struct
struct Audience {
static let Public = "Public"
static let Friends = "Friends"
static let Private = "Private"
}
then your code:
let audience = Audience.Public
will work as expected. It isn't pretty and there are some downsides because you not using a "enum", you can't use the shortcut only adding .Private neither will work with switch cases.
Solution 11 - String
There are multiple ways to do this. Either you could define a function in the enum which returns the string based on the value of enum type:
enum Audience{
...
func toString()->String{
var a:String
switch self{
case .Public:
a="Public"
case .Friends:
a="Friends"
...
}
return a
}
Or you could can try this:
enum Audience:String{
case Public="Public"
case Friends="Friends"
case Private="Private"
}
And to use it:
var a:Audience=Audience.Public
println(a.toRaw())
Solution 12 - String
Starting from Swift 3.0 you can
var str = String(describing: Audience.friends)
Solution 13 - String
Use Ruby way
var public: String = "\(Audience.Public)"
Solution 14 - String
One more way
public enum HTTP{
case get
case put
case delete
case patch
var value: String? {
return String(describing: self)
}
Solution 15 - String
Friendly by guides if you need to use static strings as enum values:
class EncyclopediaOfCats {
struct Constants {
static var playHideAndSeek: String { "Play hide-and-seek" }
static var eat: String { "Eats" }
static var sleep: String { "Sleep" }
static var beCute: String { "Be cute" }
}
}
enum CatLife {
case playHideAndSeek
case eat
case sleep
case beCute
typealias RawValue = String
var rawValue: String {
switch self {
case .playHideAndSeek:
return EncyclopediaOfCats.Constants.playHideAndSeek
case .eat:
return EncyclopediaOfCats.Constants.eat
case .sleep:
return EncyclopediaOfCats.Constants.sleep
case .beCute:
return EncyclopediaOfCats.Constants.beCute
}
}
init?(rawValue: CatLife.RawValue) {
switch rawValue {
case EncyclopediaOfCats.Constants.playHideAndSeek:
self = .playHideAndSeek
case EncyclopediaOfCats.Constants.eat:
self = .eat
case EncyclopediaOfCats.Constants.sleep:
self = .sleep
case EncyclopediaOfCats.Constants.beCute:
self = .beCute
default:
self = .playHideAndSeek
}
}
}
Solution 16 - String
You can also use "\(enumVal)"
Here is an example :
enum WeekDays{ case Sat, Sun, Mon, Tue, Wed, The, Fri }
let dayOfWeek: String = "\(WeekDays.Mon)"
Tried and tested in Swift 5
Solution 17 - String
I agree with all the above answers but in your enum private and the public cases can't be defined since those are default keywords. I'm including CaseIterable in my answer, it may help you to get all cases if you required to loop over.
enum Audience: String, CaseIterable {
case publicAudience
case friends
case privateAudience
var description: String {
switch self {
case .publicAudience: return "Public"
case .friends: return "Friends"
case .privateAudience: return "Private"
}
}
static var allAudience: [String] {
return Audience { $0.rawValue }
}
}