How to find NSDocumentDirectory in Swift

Question

I m trying to get path to Documents folder with code   var documentsPath   NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains NSSearchPathDirectory 0 NSSearchPathDomainMask 0 true    but Xcode gives error  Cannot convert expression s type  AnyObject     to type  NSSearchPathDirectory   I m trying to understand what is wrong in the code

User · Answer

The modern recommendation is to use NSURLs for files and directories instead of NSString based paths:

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So to get the Document directory for the app as an NSURL:

func databaseURL() -> NSURL? {

    let fileManager = NSFileManager.defaultManager()

    let urls = fileManager.URLsForDirectory(.DocumentDirectory, inDomains: .UserDomainMask)

    if let documentDirectory: NSURL = urls.first as? NSURL {
        // This is where the database should be in the documents directory
        let finalDatabaseURL = documentDirectory.URLByAppendingPathComponent("items.db")

        if finalDatabaseURL.checkResourceIsReachableAndReturnError(nil) {
            // The file already exists, so just return the URL
            return finalDatabaseURL
        } else {
            // Copy the initial file from the application bundle to the documents directory
            if let bundleURL = NSBundle.mainBundle().URLForResource("items", withExtension: "db") {
                let success = fileManager.copyItemAtURL(bundleURL, toURL: finalDatabaseURL, error: nil)
                if success {
                    return finalDatabaseURL
                } else {
                    println("Couldn't copy file to final location!")
                }
            } else {
                println("Couldn't find initial database in the bundle!")
            }
        }
    } else {
        println("Couldn't get documents directory!")
    }

    return nil
}

This has rudimentary error handling, as that sort of depends on what your application will do in such cases. But this uses file URLs and a more modern api to return the database URL, copying the initial version out of the bundle if it does not already exist, or a nil in case of error.

User · Answer

For everyone who looks example that works with Swift 2 2  Abizern code with modern do try catch handle of error   func databaseURL   - gt  NSURL         let fileManager   NSFileManager defaultManager        let urls   fileManager URLsForDirectory  DocumentDirectory  inDomains   UserDomainMask       if let documentDirectory NSURL   urls first      No use of as  NSURL because let urls returns array of NSURL            This is where the database should be in the documents directory         let finalDatabaseURL   documentDirectory URLByAppendingPathComponent  OurFile plist            if finalDatabaseURL checkResourceIsReachableAndReturnError nil                   The file already exists  so just return the URL             return finalDatabaseURL           else                  Copy the initial file from the application bundle to the documents directory             if let bundleURL   NSBundle mainBundle   URLForResource  OurFile   withExtension   plist                      do                       try fileManager copyItemAtURL bundleURL  toURL  finalDatabaseURL                    catch let error as NSError      Handle the error                     print  Couldn t copy file to final location  Error   error localisedDescription                                     else                   print  Couldn t find initial database in the bundle                                  else           print  Couldn t get documents directory               return nil     Update I ve missed that new swift 2 0 have guard Ruby unless analog   so with guard it is much shorter and more readable   func databaseURL   - gt  NSURL     let fileManager   NSFileManager defaultManager   let urls   fileManager URLsForDirectory  DocumentDirectory  inDomains   UserDomainMask      If array of path is empty the document folder not found guard urls count    0 else       return nil    let finalDatabaseURL   urls first  URLByAppendingPathComponent  OurFile plist      Check if file reachable  and if reacheble just return path guard finalDatabaseURL checkResourceIsReachableAndReturnError nil  else          Check if file is exists in bundle folder     if let bundleURL   NSBundle mainBundle   URLForResource  OurFile   withExtension   plist                if exist we will copy it         do               try fileManager copyItemAtURL bundleURL  toURL  finalDatabaseURL            catch let error as NSError      Handle the error             print  File copy failed  Error   error localizedDescription                    else           print  Our file not exist in bundle folder           return nil           return finalDatabaseURL   return finalDatabaseURL

User · Answer

Usually i prefer like below in swift 3  because i can add file name and create a file easily  let fileManager   FileManager default if let documentsURL   fileManager urls for   documentDirectory  in   userDomainMask  first       let databasePath   documentsURL appendingPathComponent  db sqlite3   path     print  directory path    documentsURL path      print  database path    databasePath      if  fileManager fileExists atPath  databasePath            fileManager createFile atPath  databasePath  contents  nil  attributes  nil

User · Answer

Xcode 8b4 Swift 3 0  let paths   NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains FileManager SearchPathDirectory documentDirectory  FileManager SearchPathDomainMask userDomainMask  true

User · Answer

Xcode 8 2 1     Swift 3 0 2  let documentDirectoryURL    try  FileManager default url for   documentDirectory  in   userDomainMask  appropriateFor  nil  create  true    Xcode 7 1 1     Swift 2 1  let documentDirectoryURL    try  NSFileManager defaultManager   URLForDirectory  DocumentDirectory  inDomain   UserDomainMask  appropriateForURL  nil  create  true

User · Answer

Usually I prefer to use this extension  Swift 3 x and Swift 4 0  extension FileManager       class func documentsDir   - gt  String           var paths   NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains  documentDirectory   userDomainMask  true  as  String          return paths 0                 class func cachesDir   - gt  String           var paths   NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains  cachesDirectory   userDomainMask  true  as  String          return paths 0           Swift 2 x  extension NSFileManager       class func documentsDir   - gt  String           var paths   NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains  DocumentDirectory   UserDomainMask  true  as  String          return paths 0                 class func cachesDir   - gt  String           var paths   NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains  CachesDirectory   UserDomainMask  true  as  String          return paths 0

User · Answer

Swift 3 0 and 4 0  Directly getting first element from an array will potentially cause exception if the path is not found  So calling first and then unwrap is the better solution  if let documentsPathString   NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains  documentDirectory   userDomainMask  true  first         This gives you the string formed path    if let documentsPathURL   FileManager default urls for   documentDirectory  in   userDomainMask  first         This gives you the URL of the path

User · Answer

More convenient Swift 3 method   let documentsUrl   FileManager default urls for   documentDirectory                                                in   userDomainMask  first

User · Answer

Apparently  the compiler thinks NSSearchPathDirectory 0 is an array  and of course it expects the type NSSearchPathDirectory instead  Certainly not a helpful error message   But as to the reasons   First  you are confusing the argument names and types  Take a look at the function definition   func NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains      directory  NSSearchPathDirectory      domainMask  NSSearchPathDomainMask      expandTilde  Bool  - gt  AnyObject       directory and domainMask are the names  you are using the types  but you should leave them out for functions anyway  They are used primarily in methods  Also  Swift is strongly typed  so you shouldn t just use 0  Use the enum s value instead  And finally  it returns an array  not just a single path    So that leaves us with  updated for Swift 2 0    let documentsPath   NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains  DocumentDirectory   UserDomainMask  true  0    and for Swift 3   let documentsPath   NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains  documentDirectory   userDomainMask  true  0

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