Get nth character of a string in Swift programming

Question

How can I get the nth character of a string? I tried bracket([]) accessor with no luck.

var string = "Hello, world!"

var firstChar = string[0] // Throws error

ERROR: 'subscript' is unavailable: cannot subscript String with an Int, see the documentation comment for discussion

Answer 1

Swift 4

String(Array(stringToIndex)[index]) 

This is probably the best way of solving this problem one-time. You probably want to cast the String as an array first, and then cast the result as a String again. Otherwise, a Character will be returned instead of a String.

Example String(Array("HelloThere")[1]) will return "e" as a String.

(Array("HelloThere")[1] will return "e" as a Character.

Swift does not allow Strings to be indexed like arrays, but this gets the job done, brute-force style.

Answer 2

Swift 3: another solution (tested in playground)

extension String {
    func substr(_ start:Int, length:Int=0) -> String? {
        guard start > -1 else {
            return nil
        }

        let count = self.characters.count - 1

        guard start <= count else {
            return nil
        }

        let startOffset = max(0, start)
        let endOffset = length > 0 ? min(count, startOffset + length - 1) : count

        return self[self.index(self.startIndex, offsetBy: startOffset)...self.index(self.startIndex, offsetBy: endOffset)]
    }
}

Usage:

let txt = "12345"

txt.substr(-1) //nil
txt.substr(0) //"12345"
txt.substr(0, length: 0) //"12345"
txt.substr(1) //"2345"
txt.substr(2) //"345"
txt.substr(3) //"45"
txt.substr(4) //"5"
txt.substr(6) //nil
txt.substr(0, length: 1) //"1"
txt.substr(1, length: 1) //"2"
txt.substr(2, length: 1) //"3"
txt.substr(3, length: 1) //"4"
txt.substr(3, length: 2) //"45"
txt.substr(3, length: 3) //"45"
txt.substr(4, length: 1) //"5"
txt.substr(4, length: 2) //"5"
txt.substr(5, length: 1) //nil
txt.substr(5, length: -1) //nil
txt.substr(-1, length: -1) //nil

Answer 3

Swift's String type does not provide a characterAtIndex method because there are several ways a Unicode string could be encoded. Are you going with UTF8, UTF16, or something else?

You can access the CodeUnit collections by retrieving the String.utf8 and String.utf16 properties. You can also access the UnicodeScalar collection by retrieving the String.unicodeScalars property.

In the spirit of NSString's implementation, I'm returning a unichar type.

extension String
{
    func characterAtIndex(index:Int) -> unichar
    {
        return self.utf16[index]
    }

    // Allows us to use String[index] notation
    subscript(index:Int) -> unichar
    {
        return characterAtIndex(index)
    }
}

let text = "Hello Swift!"
let firstChar = text[0]

Answer 4

The swift string class does not provide the ability to get a character at a specific index because of its native support for UTF characters. The variable length of a UTF character in memory makes jumping directly to a character impossible. That means you have to manually loop over the string each time.

You can extend String to provide a method that will loop through the characters until your desired index

extension String {
    func characterAtIndex(index: Int) -> Character? {
        var cur = 0
        for char in self {
            if cur == index {
                return char
            }
            cur++
        }
        return nil
    }
}

myString.characterAtIndex(0)!

Answer 5

Get & Set Subscript (String & Substring) - Swift 4.2

Swift 4.2, Xcode 10

I based my answer off of @alecarlson's answer. The only big difference is you can get a Substring or a String returned (and in some cases, a single Character). You can also get and set the subscript. Lastly, mine is a bit more cumbersome and longer than @alecarlson's answer and as such, I suggest you put it in a source file.

---

Extension:

public extension String {
    public subscript (i: Int) -> Character {
        get {
            return self[index(startIndex, offsetBy: i)]
        }
        set (c) {
            let n = index(startIndex, offsetBy: i)
            replaceSubrange(n...n, with: "\(c)")
        }
    }
    public subscript (bounds: CountableRange<Int>) -> Substring {
        get {
            let start = index(startIndex, offsetBy: bounds.lowerBound)
            let end = index(startIndex, offsetBy: bounds.upperBound)
            return self[start ..< end]
        }
        set (s) {
            let start = index(startIndex, offsetBy: bounds.lowerBound)
            let end = index(startIndex, offsetBy: bounds.upperBound)
            replaceSubrange(start ..< end, with: s)
        }
    }
    public subscript (bounds: CountableClosedRange<Int>) -> Substring {
        get {
            let start = index(startIndex, offsetBy: bounds.lowerBound)
            let end = index(startIndex, offsetBy: bounds.upperBound)
            return self[start ... end]
        }
        set (s) {
            let start = index(startIndex, offsetBy: bounds.lowerBound)
            let end = index(startIndex, offsetBy: bounds.upperBound)
            replaceSubrange(start ... end, with: s)
        }

    }
    public subscript (bounds: CountablePartialRangeFrom<Int>) -> Substring {
        get {
            let start = index(startIndex, offsetBy: bounds.lowerBound)
            let end = index(endIndex, offsetBy: -1)
            return self[start ... end]
        }
        set (s) {
            let start = index(startIndex, offsetBy: bounds.lowerBound)
            let end = index(endIndex, offsetBy: -1)
            replaceSubrange(start ... end, with: s)
        }
    }
    public subscript (bounds: PartialRangeThrough<Int>) -> Substring {
        get {
            let end = index(startIndex, offsetBy: bounds.upperBound)
            return self[startIndex ... end]
        }
        set (s) {
            let end = index(startIndex, offsetBy: bounds.upperBound)
            replaceSubrange(startIndex ... end, with: s)
        }
    }
    public subscript (bounds: PartialRangeUpTo<Int>) -> Substring {
        get {
            let end = index(startIndex, offsetBy: bounds.upperBound)
            return self[startIndex ..< end]
        }
        set (s) {
            let end = index(startIndex, offsetBy: bounds.upperBound)
            replaceSubrange(startIndex ..< end, with: s)
        }
    }

    public subscript (i: Int) -> String {
        get {
            return "\(self[index(startIndex, offsetBy: i)])"
        }
        set (c) {
            let n = index(startIndex, offsetBy: i)
            self.replaceSubrange(n...n, with: "\(c)")
        }
    }
    public subscript (bounds: CountableRange<Int>) -> String {
        get {
            let start = index(startIndex, offsetBy: bounds.lowerBound)
            let end = index(startIndex, offsetBy: bounds.upperBound)
            return "\(self[start ..< end])"
        }
        set (s) {
            let start = index(startIndex, offsetBy: bounds.lowerBound)
            let end = index(startIndex, offsetBy: bounds.upperBound)
            replaceSubrange(start ..< end, with: s)
        }
    }
    public subscript (bounds: CountableClosedRange<Int>) -> String {
        get {
            let start = index(startIndex, offsetBy: bounds.lowerBound)
            let end = index(startIndex, offsetBy: bounds.upperBound)
            return "\(self[start ... end])"
        }
        set (s) {
            let start = index(startIndex, offsetBy: bounds.lowerBound)
            let end = index(startIndex, offsetBy: bounds.upperBound)
            replaceSubrange(start ... end, with: s)
        }

    }
    public subscript (bounds: CountablePartialRangeFrom<Int>) -> String {
        get {
            let start = index(startIndex, offsetBy: bounds.lowerBound)
            let end = index(endIndex, offsetBy: -1)
            return "\(self[start ... end])"
        }
        set (s) {
            let start = index(startIndex, offsetBy: bounds.lowerBound)
            let end = index(endIndex, offsetBy: -1)
            replaceSubrange(start ... end, with: s)
        }
    }
    public subscript (bounds: PartialRangeThrough<Int>) -> String {
        get {
            let end = index(startIndex, offsetBy: bounds.upperBound)
            return "\(self[startIndex ... end])"
        }
        set (s) {
            let end = index(startIndex, offsetBy: bounds.upperBound)
            replaceSubrange(startIndex ... end, with: s)
        }
    }
    public subscript (bounds: PartialRangeUpTo<Int>) -> String {
        get {
            let end = index(startIndex, offsetBy: bounds.upperBound)
            return "\(self[startIndex ..< end])"
        }
        set (s) {
            let end = index(startIndex, offsetBy: bounds.upperBound)
            replaceSubrange(startIndex ..< end, with: s)
        }
    }

    public subscript (i: Int) -> Substring {
        get {
            return Substring("\(self[index(startIndex, offsetBy: i)])")
        }
        set (c) {
            let n = index(startIndex, offsetBy: i)
            replaceSubrange(n...n, with: "\(c)")
        }
    }
}
public extension Substring {
    public subscript (i: Int) -> Character {
        get {
            return self[index(startIndex, offsetBy: i)]
        }
        set (c) {
            let n = index(startIndex, offsetBy: i)
            replaceSubrange(n...n, with: "\(c)")
        }

    }
    public subscript (bounds: CountableRange<Int>) -> Substring {
        get {
            let start = index(startIndex, offsetBy: bounds.lowerBound)
            let end = index(startIndex, offsetBy: bounds.upperBound)
            return self[start ..< end]
        }
        set (s) {
            let start = index(startIndex, offsetBy: bounds.lowerBound)
            let end = index(startIndex, offsetBy: bounds.upperBound)
            replaceSubrange(start ..< end, with: s)
        }
    }
    public subscript (bounds: CountableClosedRange<Int>) -> Substring {
        get {
            let start = index(startIndex, offsetBy: bounds.lowerBound)
            let end = index(startIndex, offsetBy: bounds.upperBound)
            return self[start ... end]
        }
        set (s) {
            let start = index(startIndex, offsetBy: bounds.lowerBound)
            let end = index(startIndex, offsetBy: bounds.upperBound)
            replaceSubrange(start ... end, with: s)
        }
    }
    public subscript (bounds: CountablePartialRangeFrom<Int>) -> Substring {
        get {
            let start = index(startIndex, offsetBy: bounds.lowerBound)
            let end = index(endIndex, offsetBy: -1)
            return self[start ... end]
        }
        set (s) {
            let start = index(startIndex, offsetBy: bounds.lowerBound)
            let end = index(endIndex, offsetBy: -1)
            replaceSubrange(start ... end, with: s)
        }

    }
    public subscript (bounds: PartialRangeThrough<Int>) -> Substring {
        get {
            let end = index(startIndex, offsetBy: bounds.upperBound)
            return self[startIndex ... end]
        }
        set (s) {
            let end = index(startIndex, offsetBy: bounds.upperBound)
            replaceSubrange(startIndex ..< end, with: s)
        }
    }
    public subscript (bounds: PartialRangeUpTo<Int>) -> Substring {
        get {
            let end = index(startIndex, offsetBy: bounds.upperBound)
            return self[startIndex ..< end]
        }
        set (s) {
            let end = index(startIndex, offsetBy: bounds.upperBound)
            replaceSubrange(startIndex ..< end, with: s)
        }
    }
    public subscript (i: Int) -> String {
        get {
            return "\(self[index(startIndex, offsetBy: i)])"
        }
        set (c) {
            let n = index(startIndex, offsetBy: i)
            replaceSubrange(n...n, with: "\(c)")
        }
    }
    public subscript (bounds: CountableRange<Int>) -> String {
        get {
            let start = index(startIndex, offsetBy: bounds.lowerBound)
            let end = index(startIndex, offsetBy: bounds.upperBound)
            return "\(self[start ..< end])"
        }
        set (s) {
            let start = index(startIndex, offsetBy: bounds.lowerBound)
            let end = index(startIndex, offsetBy: bounds.upperBound)
            replaceSubrange(start ..< end, with: s)
        }
    }
    public subscript (bounds: CountableClosedRange<Int>) -> String {
        get {
            let start = index(startIndex, offsetBy: bounds.lowerBound)
            let end = index(startIndex, offsetBy: bounds.upperBound)
            return "\(self[start ... end])"
        }
        set (s) {
            let start = index(startIndex, offsetBy: bounds.lowerBound)
            let end = index(startIndex, offsetBy: bounds.upperBound)
            replaceSubrange(start ... end, with: s)
        }

    }
    public subscript (bounds: CountablePartialRangeFrom<Int>) -> String {
        get {
            let start = index(startIndex, offsetBy: bounds.lowerBound)
            let end = index(endIndex, offsetBy: -1)
            return "\(self[start ... end])"
        }
        set (s) {
            let start = index(startIndex, offsetBy: bounds.lowerBound)
            let end = index(endIndex, offsetBy: -1)
            replaceSubrange(start ... end, with: s)
        }
    }
    public subscript (bounds: PartialRangeThrough<Int>) -> String {
        get {
            let end = index(startIndex, offsetBy: bounds.upperBound)
            return "\(self[startIndex ... end])"
        }
        set (s) {
            let end = index(startIndex, offsetBy: bounds.upperBound)
            replaceSubrange(startIndex ... end, with: s)
        }
    }
    public subscript (bounds: PartialRangeUpTo<Int>) -> String {
        get {
            let end = index(startIndex, offsetBy: bounds.upperBound)
            return "\(self[startIndex ..< end])"
        }
        set (s) {
            let end = index(startIndex, offsetBy: bounds.upperBound)
            replaceSubrange(startIndex ..< end, with: s)
        }
    }

    public subscript (i: Int) -> Substring {
        get {
            return Substring("\(self[index(startIndex, offsetBy: i)])")
        }
        set (c) {
            let n = index(startIndex, offsetBy: i)
            replaceSubrange(n...n, with: "\(c)")
        }
    }
}

Answer 6

You can also convert String to Array of Characters like that:

let text = "My Text"
let index = 2
let charSequence = text.unicodeScalars.map{ Character($0) }
let char = charSequence[index]

This is the way to get char at specified index in constant time.

The example below doesn't run in constant time, but requires linear time. So If You have a lot of searching in String by index use the method above.

let char = text[text.startIndex.advancedBy(index)]