How to rearrange item of an array to new position in Swift?

All great answers! Here's a more complete Swift 5 solution with performance in mind and bonus for benchmark and GIF fans. ✌️

extension Array where Element: Equatable
{
    mutating func move(_ element: Element, to newIndex: Index) {
        if let oldIndex: Int = self.firstIndex(of: element) { self.move(from: oldIndex, to: newIndex) }
    }
}

extension Array
{
    mutating func move(from oldIndex: Index, to newIndex: Index) {
        // Don't work for free and use swap when indices are next to each other - this
        // won't rebuild array and will be super efficient.
        if oldIndex == newIndex { return }
        if abs(newIndex - oldIndex) == 1 { return self.swapAt(oldIndex, newIndex) }
        self.insert(self.remove(at: oldIndex), at: newIndex)
    }
}

GIF


nice tip from Leo.

for Swift 3...5.5:

extension Array {  
    mutating func rearrange(from: Int, to: Int) {
        insert(remove(at: from), at: to)
    }
}

var myArray = [1,2,3,4]
myArray.rearrange(from: 1, to: 2)   
print(myArray)

edit/update: Swift 3.x

extension RangeReplaceableCollection where Indices: Equatable {
    mutating func rearrange(from: Index, to: Index) {
        precondition(from != to && indices.contains(from) && indices.contains(to), "invalid indices")
        insert(remove(at: from), at: to)
    }
}

var numbers = [1,2,3,4]
numbers.rearrange(from: 1, to: 2)

print(numbers)  // [1, 3, 2, 4]

Swift 3.0+:

let element = arr.remove(at: 3)
arr.insert(element, at: 2)

and in function form:

func rearrange<T>(array: Array<T>, fromIndex: Int, toIndex: Int) -> Array<T>{
    var arr = array
    let element = arr.remove(at: fromIndex)
    arr.insert(element, at: toIndex)

    return arr
}

Swift 2.0:

This puts 3 into position 4.

let element = arr.removeAtIndex(3)
arr.insert(element, atIndex: 2)

You can even make a general function:

func rearrange<T>(array: Array<T>, fromIndex: Int, toIndex: Int) -> Array<T>{
    var arr = array
    let element = arr.removeAtIndex(fromIndex)
    arr.insert(element, atIndex: toIndex)

    return arr
}

The var arr is needed here, because you can't mutate the input parameter without specifying it to be in-out. In our case however we get a pure functions with no side effects, which is a lot easier to reason with, in my opinion. You could then call it like this:

let arr = [1,2,3,4]
rearrange(arr, fromIndex: 2, toIndex: 0) //[3,1,2,4]

Tags:

Arrays

Swift