How to create a NSString from a format string like @“xxx=%@, yyy=%@” and a NSArray of objects?

Question

Is there any way to create a new NSString from a format string like @"xxx=%@, yyy=%@" and a NSArray of objects?

In the NSSTring class there are many methods like:

- (id)initWithFormat:(NSString *)format arguments:(va_list)argList
- (id)initWithFormat:(NSString *)format locale:(id)locale arguments:(va_list)argList
+ (id)stringWithFormat:(NSString *)format, ...

but non of them takes a NSArray as an argument, and I cannot find a way to create a va_list from a NSArray...

Answer 1

It is actually not hard to create a va_list from an NSArray. See Matt Gallagher's excellent article on the subject.

Here is an NSString category to do what you want:

@interface NSString (NSArrayFormatExtension)

+ (id)stringWithFormat:(NSString *)format array:(NSArray*) arguments;

@end

@implementation NSString (NSArrayFormatExtension)

+ (id)stringWithFormat:(NSString *)format array:(NSArray*) arguments
{
    char *argList = (char *)malloc(sizeof(NSString *) * arguments.count);
    [arguments getObjects:(id *)argList];
    NSString* result = [[[NSString alloc] initWithFormat:format arguments:argList] autorelease];
    free(argList);
    return result;
}

@end

Then:

NSString* s = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"xxx=%@, yyy=%@" array:@[@"XXX", @"YYY"]];
NSLog( @"%@", s );

Unfortunately, for 64-bit, the va_list format has changed, so the above code no longer works. And probably should not be used anyway given it depends on the format that is clearly subject to change. Given there is no really robust way to create a va_list, a better solution is to simply limit the number of arguments to a reasonable maximum (say 10) and then call stringWithFormat with the first 10 arguments, something like this:

+ (id)stringWithFormat:(NSString *)format array:(NSArray*) arguments
{
    if ( arguments.count > 10 ) {
        @throw [NSException exceptionWithName:NSRangeException reason:@"Maximum of 10 arguments allowed" userInfo:@{@"collection": arguments}];
    }
    NSArray* a = [arguments arrayByAddingObjectsFromArray:@[@"X",@"X",@"X",@"X",@"X",@"X",@"X",@"X",@"X",@"X"]];
    return [NSString stringWithFormat:format, a[0], a[1], a[2], a[3], a[4], a[5], a[6], a[7], a[8], a[9] ];
}

Answer 2

Based on this answer using Automatic Reference Counting (ARC): https://stackoverflow.com/a/8217755/881197

Add a category to NSString with the following method:

+ (id)stringWithFormat:(NSString *)format array:(NSArray *)arguments
{
    NSRange range = NSMakeRange(0, [arguments count]);
    NSMutableData *data = [NSMutableData dataWithLength:sizeof(id) * [arguments count]];
    [arguments getObjects:(__unsafe_unretained id *)data.mutableBytes range:range];
    NSString *result = [[NSString alloc] initWithFormat:format arguments:data.mutableBytes];
    return result;
}

Answer 3

One solution that came to my mind is that I could create a method that works with a fixed large number of arguments like:

+ (NSString *) stringWithFormat: (NSString *) format arguments: (NSArray *) arguments {
    return [NSString stringWithFormat: format ,
          (arguments.count>0) ? [arguments objectAtIndex: 0]: nil,
          (arguments.count>1) ? [arguments objectAtIndex: 1]: nil,
          (arguments.count>2) ? [arguments objectAtIndex: 2]: nil,
          ...
          (arguments.count>20) ? [arguments objectAtIndex: 20]: nil];
}

I could also add a check to see if the format string has more than 21 '%' characters and throw an exception in that case.

Answer 4

@Chuck is correct about the fact that you can't convert an NSArray into varargs. However, I don't recommend searching for the pattern %@ in the string and replacing it each time. (Replacing characters in the middle of a string is generally quite inefficient, and not a good idea if you can accomplish the same thing in a different way.) Here is a more efficient way to create a string with the format you're describing:

NSArray *array = ...
NSAutoreleasePool *pool = [NSAutoreleasePool new];
NSMutableArray *newArray = [NSMutableArray arrayWithCapacity:[array count]];
for (id object in array) {
    [newArray addObject:[NSString stringWithFormat:@"x=%@", [object description]]];
}
NSString *composedString = [[newArray componentsJoinedByString:@", "] retain];
[pool drain];

I included the autorelease pool for good housekeeping, since an autoreleased string will be created for each array entry, and the mutable array is autoreleased as well. You could easily make this into a method/function and return composedString without retaining it, and handle the autorelease elsewhere in the code if desired.

Answer 5

This answer is buggy. As noted, there is no solution to this problem that is guaranteed to work when new platforms are introduced other than using the "10 element array" method.

---

The answer by solidsun was working well, until I went to compile with 64-bit architecture. This caused an error:

EXC_BAD_ADDRESS type EXC_I386_GPFLT

The solution was to use a slightly different approach for passing the argument list to the method:

+ (id)stringWithFormat:(NSString *)format array:(NSArray*) arguments;
{
     __unsafe_unretained id  * argList = (__unsafe_unretained id  *) calloc(1UL, sizeof(id) * arguments.count);
    for (NSInteger i = 0; i < arguments.count; i++) {
        argList[i] = arguments[i];
    }

    NSString* result = [[NSString alloc] initWithFormat:format, *argList] ;//  arguments:(void *) argList];
    free (argList);
    return result;
}

This only works for arrays with a single element

Answer 6

There is no general way to pass an array to a function or method that uses varargs. In this particular case, however, you could fake it by using something like:

for (NSString *currentReplacement in array)
    [string stringByReplacingCharactersInRange:[string rangeOfString:@"%@"] 
            withString:currentReplacement];

EDIT: The accepted answer claims there is a way to do this, but regardless of how fragile this answer might seem, that approach is far more fragile. It relies on implementation-defined behavior (specifically, the structure of a va_list) that is not guaranteed to remain the same. I maintain that my answer is correct and my proposed solution is less fragile since it only relies on defined features of the language and frameworks.

Answer 7

For those who need a Swift solution, here is an extension to do this in Swift

extension String {

    static func stringWithFormat(format: String, argumentsArray: Array<AnyObject>) -> String {
        let arguments = argumentsArray.map { $0 as! CVarArgType }
        let result = String(format:format, arguments:arguments)
        return result
    }

}

Answer 8

Yes, it is possible. In GCC targeting Mac OS X, at least, va_list is simply a C array, so you'll make one of ids, then tell the NSArray to fill it:

NSArray *argsArray = [[NSProcessInfo processInfo] arguments];
va_list args = malloc(sizeof(id) * [argsArray count]);
NSAssert1(args != nil, @"Couldn't allocate array for %u arguments", [argsArray count]);

[argsArray getObjects:(id *)args];

//Example: NSLogv is the version of NSLog that takes a va_list instead of separate arguments.
NSString *formatSpecifier = @"\n%@";
NSString *format = [@"Arguments:" stringByAppendingString:[formatSpecifier stringByPaddingToLength:[argsArray count] * 3U withString:formatSpecifier startingAtIndex:0U]];
NSLogv(format, args);

free(args);

You shouldn't rely on this nature in code that should be portable. iPhone developers, this is one thing you should definitely test on the device.

Answer 9

- (NSString *)stringWithFormat:(NSString *)format andArguments:(NSArray *)arguments {
    NSMutableString *result = [NSMutableString new];
    NSArray *components = format ? [format componentsSeparatedByString:@"%@"] : @[@""];
    NSUInteger argumentsCount = [arguments count];
    NSUInteger componentsCount = [components count] - 1;
    NSUInteger iterationCount = argumentsCount < componentsCount ? argumentsCount : componentsCount;
    for (NSUInteger i = 0; i < iterationCount; i++) {
        [result appendFormat:@"%@%@", components[i], arguments[i]];
    }
    [result appendString:[components lastObject]];
    return iterationCount == 0 ? [result stringByTrimmingCharactersInSet:[NSCharacterSet whitespaceCharacterSet]] : result;
}

Tested with format and arguments:

NSString *format = @"xxx=%@, yyy=%@ last component";
NSArray *arguments = @[@"XXX", @"YYY", @"ZZZ"];

Result: xxx=XXX, yyy=YYY last component

NSString *format = @"xxx=%@, yyy=%@ last component";
NSArray *arguments = @[@"XXX", @"YYY"];

Result: xxx=XXX, yyy=YYY last component

NSString *format = @"xxx=%@, yyy=%@ last component";
NSArray *arguments = @[@"XXX"];

Result: xxx=XXX last component

NSString *format = @"xxx=%@, yyy=%@ last component";
NSArray *arguments = @[];

Result: last component

NSString *format = @"some text";
NSArray *arguments = @[@"XXX", @"YYY", @"ZZZ"];

Result: some text

Answer 10

I found some code on the web that claims that this is possible however I haven't managed to do it myself, however if you don't know the number of arguments in advance you also need to build the format string dynamically so I just don't see the point.

You better off just building the string by iterating the array.

You might find the stringByAppendingString: or stringByAppendingFormat: instance method handy .

Answer 11

One can create a category for NSString and make a function which receives a format, an array and returns the string with replaced objects.

@interface NSString (NSArrayFormat)

+ (NSString *)stringWithFormat:(NSString *)format arrayArguments:(NSArray *)arrayArguments;

@end

@implementation NSString (NSArrayFormat)

+ (NSString *)stringWithFormat:(NSString *)format arrayArguments:(NSArray *)arrayArguments {
    static NSString *objectSpecifier = @"%@"; // static is redundant because compiler will optimize this string to have same address
    NSMutableString *string = [[NSMutableString alloc] init]; // here we'll create the string
    NSRange searchRange = NSMakeRange(0, [format length]);
    NSRange rangeOfPlaceholder = NSMakeRange(NSNotFound, 0); // variables are declared here because they're needed for NSAsserts
    NSUInteger index;
    for (index = 0; index < [arrayArguments count]; ++index) {
        rangeOfPlaceholder = [format rangeOfString:objectSpecifier options:0 range:searchRange]; // find next object specifier
        if (rangeOfPlaceholder.location != NSNotFound) { // if we found one
            NSRange substringRange = NSMakeRange(searchRange.location, rangeOfPlaceholder.location - searchRange.location);
            NSString *formatSubstring = [format substringWithRange:substringRange];
            [string appendString:formatSubstring]; // copy the format from previous specifier up to this one
            NSObject *object = [arrayArguments objectAtIndex:index];
            NSString *objectDescription = [object description]; // convert object into string
            [string appendString:objectDescription];
            searchRange.location = rangeOfPlaceholder.location + [objectSpecifier length]; // update the search range in order to minimize search
            searchRange.length = [format length] - searchRange.location;
        } else {
            break;
        }
    }
    if (rangeOfPlaceholder.location != NSNotFound) { // we need to check if format still specifiers
        rangeOfPlaceholder = [format rangeOfString:@"%@" options:0 range:searchRange];
    }
    NSAssert(rangeOfPlaceholder.location == NSNotFound, @"arrayArguments doesn't have enough objects to fill specified format");
    NSAssert(index == [arrayArguments count], @"Objects starting with index %lu from arrayArguments have been ignored because there aren't enough object specifiers!", index);
    return string;
}

@end

Because NSArray is created at runtime we cannot provide compile-time warnings, but we can use NSAssert to tell us if number of specifiers is equal with number of objects within array.

Created a project on Github where this category can be found. Also added Chuck's version by using 'stringByReplacingCharactersInRange:' plus some tests.

Using one million objects into array, version with 'stringByReplacingCharactersInRange:' doesn't scale very well (waited about 2 minutes then closed the app). Using the version with NSMutableString, function made the string in about 4 seconds. The tests were made using simulator. Before usage, tests should be done on a real device (use a device with lowest specs).

Edit: On iPhone 5s the version with NSMutableString takes 10.471655s (one million objects); on iPhone 5 takes 21.304876s.

Answer 12

Here's the answer without explicitly creating an array:

   NSString *formattedString = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"%@ World, Nice %@", @"Hello", @"Day"];

First String is the target string to be formatted, the next string are the string to be inserted in the target.

Answer 13

No, you won't be able to. Variable argument calls are solved at compile time, and your NSArray has contents only at runtime.