Exponentiation operator in Swift

Question

I don't see an exponentiation operator defined in the base arithmetic operators in the Swift language reference.

Is there really no predefined integer or float exponentiation operator in the language?

Answer 1

There isn't one but you have the pow function.

Answer 2

There isn't an operator but you can use the pow function like this:

return pow(num, power)

If you want to, you could also make an operator call the pow function like this:

infix operator ** { associativity left precedence 170 }

func ** (num: Double, power: Double) -> Double{
    return pow(num, power)
}

2.0**2.0 //4.0

Answer 3

For anyone looking for a Swift 3 version of the ** infix operator:

precedencegroup ExponentiationPrecedence {
  associativity: right
  higherThan: MultiplicationPrecedence
}

infix operator ** : ExponentiationPrecedence

func ** (_ base: Double, _ exp: Double) -> Double {
  return pow(base, exp)
}

func ** (_ base: Float, _ exp: Float) -> Float {
  return pow(base, exp)
}

2.0 ** 3.0 ** 2.0    // 512
(2.0 ** 3.0) ** 2.0  // 64

Answer 4

Like most of the C-family of languages, there isn't one.

Answer 5

An alternative answer is to use NSExpression

let mathExpression = NSExpression(format:"2.5**2.5")
let answer = mathExpression.expressionValue(with: nil, context: nil) as? Double

or

let mathExpression = NSExpression(format:"2**3")
let answer = mathExpression.expressionValue(with: nil, context: nil) as? Int

Answer 6

I did it like so:

operator infix ** { associativity left precedence 200 }

func ** (base: Double, power: Double) -> Double {
    return exp(log(base) * power)
}