If I have two arrays e.g
let one = [1,3,5]
let two = [2,4,6]
I would like to merge/interleave the arrays in the following pattern [one[0], two[0], one[1], two[1] etc....]
//prints [1,2,3,4,5,6]
let comibned = mergeFunction(one, two)
print(combined)
What would be a good way to implement the combining function?
func mergeFunction(one: [T], _ two: [T]) -> [T] {
var mergedArray = [T]()
//What goes here
return mergedArray
}
If both arrays have the same length then this is a possible solution:
let one = [1,3,5]
let two = [2,4,6]
let merged = zip(one, two).flatMap { [$0, $1] }
print(merged) // [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]
Here zip()
enumerates the arrays in parallel and returns a sequence
of pairs (2-element tuples) with one element from each array. flatMap()
creates a 2-element array from each pair and concatenates the result.
If the arrays can have different length then you append the
extra elements of the longer array to the result:
func mergeFunction<T>(one: [T], _ two: [T]) -> [T] {
let commonLength = min(one.count, two.count)
return zip(one, two).flatMap { [$0, $1] }
+ one.suffixFrom(commonLength)
+ two.suffixFrom(commonLength)
}
Update for Swift 3:
func mergeFunction<T>(_ one: [T], _ two: [T]) -> [T] {
let commonLength = min(one.count, two.count)
return zip(one, two).flatMap { [$0, $1] }
+ one.suffix(from: commonLength)
+ two.suffix(from: commonLength)
}
If you're just looking to interleave two arrays, you could just do something like:
let maxIndex = max(one.count, two.count)
var mergedArray = Array<T>()
for index in 0..<maxIndex {
if index < one.count { mergedArray.append(one[index]) }
if index < two.count { mergedArray.append(two[index]) }
}
return mergedArray
With Swift 4.2, you can use one of the three following Playground examples in order to solve your problem.
#1. Using zip(_:_:)
function and Collection
's flatMap(_:)
method
let one = [1, 3, 5]
let two = [2, 4, 6]
let array = zip(one, two).flatMap({ [$0, $1] })
print(array) // print: [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]
Apple states:
If the two sequences passed to zip(_:_:)
are different lengths, the resulting sequence is the same length as the shorter sequence.
#2. Using sequence(state:next:)
function
let one = [1, 3, 5]
let two = [2, 4, 6]
let unfoldSequence = sequence(state: (false, one.makeIterator(), two.makeIterator()), next: { state -> Int? in
state.0.toggle()
return state.0 ? state.1.next() : state.2.next()
})
let array = Array(unfoldSequence)
print(array) // print: [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]
#3. Using AnyIterator
's init(_:)
initializer
let one = [1, 3, 5]
let two = [2, 4, 6]
var oneIterator = one.makeIterator()
var twoIterator = two.makeIterator()
var state = false
let anyIterator = AnyIterator<Int> {
state.toggle()
return state ? oneIterator.next() : twoIterator.next()
}
let array = Array(anyIterator)
print(array) // print: [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]
As an alternative, you can wrap your iterators inside a AnySequence
instance:
let one = [1, 3, 5]
let two = [2, 4, 6]
let anySequence = AnySequence<Int>({ () -> AnyIterator<Int> in
var oneIterator = one.makeIterator()
var twoIterator = two.makeIterator()
var state = false
return AnyIterator<Int> {
state.toggle()
return state ? oneIterator.next() : twoIterator.next()
}
})
let array = Array(anySequence)
print(array) // print: [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]