Remove last character from string. Swift language
The global dropLast()
function works on sequences and therefore on Strings:
var expression = "45+22"
expression = dropLast(expression) // "45+2"
// in Swift 2.0 (according to cromanelli's comment below)
expression = String(expression.characters.dropLast())
Swift 4/5
var str = "bla"
str.removeLast() // returns "a"; str is now "bl"
Swift 4.0 (also Swift 5.0)
var str = "Hello, World" // "Hello, World"
str.dropLast() // "Hello, Worl" (non-modifying)
str // "Hello, World"
String(str.dropLast()) // "Hello, Worl"
str.remove(at: str.index(before: str.endIndex)) // "d"
str // "Hello, Worl" (modifying)
Swift 3.0
The APIs have gotten a bit more swifty, and as a result the Foundation extension has changed a bit:
var name: String = "Dolphin"
var truncated = name.substring(to: name.index(before: name.endIndex))
print(name) // "Dolphin"
print(truncated) // "Dolphi"
Or the in-place version:
var name: String = "Dolphin"
name.remove(at: name.index(before: name.endIndex))
print(name) // "Dolphi"
Thanks Zmey, Rob Allen!
Swift 2.0+ Way
There are a few ways to accomplish this:
Via the Foundation extension, despite not being part of the Swift library:
var name: String = "Dolphin"
var truncated = name.substringToIndex(name.endIndex.predecessor())
print(name) // "Dolphin"
print(truncated) // "Dolphi"
Using the removeRange()
method (which alters the name
):
var name: String = "Dolphin"
name.removeAtIndex(name.endIndex.predecessor())
print(name) // "Dolphi"
Using the dropLast()
function:
var name: String = "Dolphin"
var truncated = String(name.characters.dropLast())
print(name) // "Dolphin"
print(truncated) // "Dolphi"
Old String.Index (Xcode 6 Beta 4 +) Way
Since String
types in Swift aim to provide excellent UTF-8 support, you can no longer access character indexes/ranges/substrings using Int
types. Instead, you use String.Index
:
let name: String = "Dolphin"
let stringLength = count(name) // Since swift1.2 `countElements` became `count`
let substringIndex = stringLength - 1
name.substringToIndex(advance(name.startIndex, substringIndex)) // "Dolphi"
Alternatively (for a more practical, but less educational example) you can use endIndex
:
let name: String = "Dolphin"
name.substringToIndex(name.endIndex.predecessor()) // "Dolphi"
Note: I found this to be a great starting point for understanding String.Index
Old (pre-Beta 4) Way
You can simply use the substringToIndex()
function, providing it one less than the length of the String
:
let name: String = "Dolphin"
name.substringToIndex(countElements(name) - 1) // "Dolphi"
Swift 4:
let choppedString = String(theString.dropLast())
In Swift 2, do this:
let choppedString = String(theString.characters.dropLast())
I recommend this link to get an understanding of Swift strings.