26

I have a custom class defined as follows :

class DisplayMessage : NSObject {
var id : String?
var partner_image : UIImage?
var partner_name : String?
var last_message : String?
var date : NSDate?
}

Now I have an array myChats = [DisplayMessage]?. The id field is unique for each DisplayMessage object. I need to check my array and remove all duplicates from it, essentially ensure that all objects in the array have a unique id. I have seen some solutions using NSMutableArray and Equatable however I'm not sure how to adapt them here; I also know of Array(Set(myChats)) however that doesn't seem to work for an array of custom objects.

1

4 Answers 4

45

Here is an Array extension to return the unique list of objects based on a given key:

extension Array {
    func unique<T:Hashable>(map: ((Element) -> (T)))  -> [Element] {
        var set = Set<T>() //the unique list kept in a Set for fast retrieval
        var arrayOrdered = [Element]() //keeping the unique list of elements but ordered
        for value in self {
            if !set.contains(map(value)) {
                set.insert(map(value))
                arrayOrdered.append(value)
            }
        }

        return arrayOrdered
    }
}

for your example do:

let uniqueMessages = messages.unique{$0.id ?? ""}
Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

Comments

28

You can do it with a set of strings, like this:

var seen = Set<String>()
var unique = [DisplayMessage]
for message in messagesWithDuplicates {
    if !seen.contains(message.id!) {
        unique.append(message)
        seen.insert(message.id!)
    }
}

The idea is to keep a set of all IDs that we've seen so far, go through all items in a loop, and add ones the IDs of which we have not seen.

4 Comments

using a dictionary would be simpler no?
So what is the O(N) for this solution?
@ChuckZHB The complexity of this solution is O(N) where N is the number of items in the messagesWithDuplicates collection, because checking a hash set and inserting into a hash set has an amortized cost of O(1).
great! I has added this solution into my App. Thank you.
19

Here is an Array extension to return the unique list of objects based on a keyPath:

extension Array {

    func uniques<T: Hashable>(by keyPath: KeyPath<Element, T>) -> [Element] {
        return reduce([]) { result, element in
            let alreadyExists = (result.contains(where: { $0[keyPath: keyPath] == element[keyPath: keyPath] }))
            return alreadyExists ? result : result + [element]
        }
    }
}

Usage:

myChats.uniques(by: \.id)

1 Comment

this is the best answer :)
10

Create a free duplicate version of an Array, using equality comparisons based on a given key

public extension Sequence {

    public func uniq<Id: Hashable >(by getIdentifier: (Iterator.Element) -> Id) -> [Iterator.Element] {
        var ids = Set<Id>()
        return self.reduce([]) { uniqueElements, element in
            if ids.insert(getIdentifier(element)).inserted {
                return uniqueElements + CollectionOfOne(element)
            }
            return uniqueElements
        }
    }


   public func uniq<Id: Hashable >(by keyPath: KeyPath<Iterator.Element, Id>) -> [Iterator.Element] {
      return self.uniq(by: { $0[keyPath: keyPath] })
   }
}

public extension Sequence where Iterator.Element: Hashable {

    var uniq: [Iterator.Element] {
        return self.uniq(by: { (element) -> Iterator.Element in
            return element
        })
    }

}

Usage

let numbers =  [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,1,1,1,]
let cars = [Car(id:1), Car(id:1), Car(id:2)]

numbers.uniq
cars.uniq(by: { $0.id})
cars.uniq(by: \Car.id)
cars.uniq(by: \.id)

Comments

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our privacy policy.

Start asking to get answers

Find the answer to your question by asking.

Ask question

Explore related questions

See similar questions with these tags.