How to convert a JSON string to a dictionary?
I've updated Eric D's answer for Swift 5:
func convertStringToDictionary(text: String) -> [String:AnyObject]? {
if let data = text.data(using: .utf8) {
do {
let json = try JSONSerialization.jsonObject(with: data, options: .mutableContainers) as? [String:AnyObject]
return json
} catch {
print("Something went wrong")
}
}
return nil
}
Swift 3:
if let data = text.data(using: String.Encoding.utf8) {
do {
let json = try JSONSerialization.jsonObject(with: data, options: .mutableContainers) as? [String:Any]
print(json)
} catch {
print("Something went wrong")
}
}
Warning: this is a convenience method to convert a JSON string to a dictionary if, for some reason, you have to work from a JSON string. But if you have the JSON data available, you should instead work with the data, without using a string at all.
Swift 3
func convertToDictionary(text: String) -> [String: Any]? {
if let data = text.data(using: .utf8) {
do {
return try JSONSerialization.jsonObject(with: data, options: []) as? [String: Any]
} catch {
print(error.localizedDescription)
}
}
return nil
}
let str = "{\"name\":\"James\"}"
let dict = convertToDictionary(text: str)
Swift 2
func convertStringToDictionary(text: String) -> [String:AnyObject]? {
if let data = text.dataUsingEncoding(NSUTF8StringEncoding) {
do {
return try NSJSONSerialization.JSONObjectWithData(data, options: []) as? [String:AnyObject]
} catch let error as NSError {
print(error)
}
}
return nil
}
let str = "{\"name\":\"James\"}"
let result = convertStringToDictionary(str)
Original Swift 1 answer:
func convertStringToDictionary(text: String) -> [String:String]? {
if let data = text.dataUsingEncoding(NSUTF8StringEncoding) {
var error: NSError?
let json = NSJSONSerialization.JSONObjectWithData(data, options: NSJSONReadingOptions.allZeros, error: &error) as? [String:String]
if error != nil {
println(error)
}
return json
}
return nil
}
let str = "{\"name\":\"James\"}"
let result = convertStringToDictionary(str) // ["name": "James"]
if let name = result?["name"] { // The `?` is here because our `convertStringToDictionary` function returns an Optional
println(name) // "James"
}
In your version, you didn't pass the proper parameters to NSJSONSerialization
and forgot to cast the result. Also, it's better to check for the possible error. Last note: this works only if your value is a String. If it could be another type, it would be better to declare the dictionary conversion like this:
let json = NSJSONSerialization.JSONObjectWithData(data, options: NSJSONReadingOptions.allZeros, error: &error) as? [String:AnyObject]
and of course you would also need to change the return type of the function:
func convertStringToDictionary(text: String) -> [String:AnyObject]? { ... }