[swift] How can I use String substring in Swift 4? 'substring(to:)' is deprecated: Please use String slicing subscript with a 'partial range from' operator

I have the following simple code written in Swift 3:

let str = "Hello, playground"
let index = str.index(of: ",")!
let newStr = str.substring(to: index)

From Xcode 9 beta 5, I get the following warning:

'substring(to:)' is deprecated: Please use String slicing subscript with a 'partial range from' operator.

How can this slicing subscript with partial range from be used in Swift 4?

This question is related to swift swift4

The answer is


You can create your custom subString method using extension to class String as below:

extension String {
    func subString(startIndex: Int, endIndex: Int) -> String {
        let end = (endIndex - self.count) + 1
        let indexStartOfText = self.index(self.startIndex, offsetBy: startIndex)
        let indexEndOfText = self.index(self.endIndex, offsetBy: end)
        let substring = self[indexStartOfText..<indexEndOfText]
        return String(substring)
    }
}

Example of uppercasedFirstCharacter convenience property in Swift3 and Swift4.

Property uppercasedFirstCharacterNew demonstrates how to use String slicing subscript in Swift4.

extension String {

   public var uppercasedFirstCharacterOld: String {
      if characters.count > 0 {
         let splitIndex = index(after: startIndex)
         let firstCharacter = substring(to: splitIndex).uppercased()
         let sentence = substring(from: splitIndex)
         return firstCharacter + sentence
      } else {
         return self
      }
   }

   public var uppercasedFirstCharacterNew: String {
      if characters.count > 0 {
         let splitIndex = index(after: startIndex)
         let firstCharacter = self[..<splitIndex].uppercased()
         let sentence = self[splitIndex...]
         return firstCharacter + sentence
      } else {
         return self
      }
   }
}

let lorem = "lorem".uppercasedFirstCharacterOld
print(lorem) // Prints "Lorem"

let ipsum = "ipsum".uppercasedFirstCharacterNew
print(ipsum) // Prints "Ipsum"

Hope it would be helpful.

extension String {
    func getSubString(_ char: Character) -> String {
        var subString = ""
        for eachChar in self {
            if eachChar == char {
                return subString
            } else {
                subString += String(eachChar)
            }
        }
        return subString
    }
}


let str: String = "Hello, playground"
print(str.getSubString(","))

Creating SubString (prefix and suffix) from String using Swift 4:

let str : String = "ilike"
for i in 0...str.count {
    let index = str.index(str.startIndex, offsetBy: i) // String.Index
    let prefix = str[..<index] // String.SubSequence
    let suffix = str[index...] // String.SubSequence
    print("prefix \(prefix), suffix : \(suffix)")
}

Output

prefix , suffix : ilike
prefix i, suffix : like
prefix il, suffix : ike
prefix ili, suffix : ke
prefix ilik, suffix : e
prefix ilike, suffix : 

If you want to generate a substring between 2 indices , use :

let substring1 = string[startIndex...endIndex] // including endIndex
let subString2 = string[startIndex..<endIndex] // excluding endIndex

Convert Substring (Swift 3) to String Slicing (Swift 4)

Examples In Swift 3, 4:

let newStr = str.substring(to: index) // Swift 3
let newStr = String(str[..<index]) // Swift 4

let newStr = str.substring(from: index) // Swift 3
let newStr = String(str[index...]) // Swift 4 

let range = firstIndex..<secondIndex // If you have a range
let newStr = = str.substring(with: range) // Swift 3
let newStr = String(str[range])  // Swift 4

Some useful extensions:

extension String {
    func substring(from: Int, to: Int) -> String {
        let start = index(startIndex, offsetBy: from)
        let end = index(start, offsetBy: to - from)
        return String(self[start ..< end])
    }

    func substring(range: NSRange) -> String {
        return substring(from: range.lowerBound, to: range.upperBound)
    }
}

Swift 5, 4

Usage

let text = "Hello world"
text[0] // H
text[...3] // "Hell"
text[6..<text.count] // world
text[NSRange(location: 6, length: 3)] // wor

Code

import Foundation

public extension String {
  subscript(value: Int) -> Character {
    self[index(at: value)]
  }
}

public extension String {
  subscript(value: NSRange) -> Substring {
    self[value.lowerBound..<value.upperBound]
  }
}

public extension String {
  subscript(value: CountableClosedRange<Int>) -> Substring {
    self[index(at: value.lowerBound)...index(at: value.upperBound)]
  }

  subscript(value: CountableRange<Int>) -> Substring {
    self[index(at: value.lowerBound)..<index(at: value.upperBound)]
  }

  subscript(value: PartialRangeUpTo<Int>) -> Substring {
    self[..<index(at: value.upperBound)]
  }

  subscript(value: PartialRangeThrough<Int>) -> Substring {
    self[...index(at: value.upperBound)]
  }

  subscript(value: PartialRangeFrom<Int>) -> Substring {
    self[index(at: value.lowerBound)...]
  }
}

private extension String {
  func index(at offset: Int) -> String.Index {
    index(startIndex, offsetBy: offset)
  }
}

This is my solution, no warning, no errors, but perfect

let redStr: String = String(trimmStr[String.Index.init(encodedOffset: 0)..<String.Index.init(encodedOffset: 2)])
let greenStr: String = String(trimmStr[String.Index.init(encodedOffset: 3)..<String.Index.init(encodedOffset: 4)])
let blueStr: String = String(trimmStr[String.Index.init(encodedOffset: 5)..<String.Index.init(encodedOffset: 6)])

substring(from: index) Converted to [index...]

Check the sample

let text = "1234567890"
let index = text.index(text.startIndex, offsetBy: 3)

text.substring(from: index) // "4567890"   [Swift 3]
String(text[index...])      // "4567890"   [Swift 4]

I have written a string extension for replacement of 'String: subString:'

extension String {
    
    func sliceByCharacter(from: Character, to: Character) -> String? {
        let fromIndex = self.index(self.index(of: from)!, offsetBy: 1)
        let toIndex = self.index(self.index(of: to)!, offsetBy: -1)
        return String(self[fromIndex...toIndex])
    }
    
    func sliceByString(from:String, to:String) -> String? {
        //From - startIndex
        var range = self.range(of: from)
        let subString = String(self[range!.upperBound...])
        
        //To - endIndex
        range = subString.range(of: to)
        return String(subString[..<range!.lowerBound])
    }
    
}

Usage : "Date(1511508780012+0530)".sliceByString(from: "(", to: "+")

Example Result : "1511508780012"

PS: Optionals are forced to unwrap. Please add Type safety check wherever necessary.


When programming I often have strings with just plain A-Za-z and 0-9. No need for difficult Index actions. This extension is based on the plain old left / mid / right functions.

extension String {

    // LEFT
    // Returns the specified number of chars from the left of the string
    // let str = "Hello"
    // print(str.left(3))         // Hel
    func left(_ to: Int) -> String {
        return "\(self[..<self.index(startIndex, offsetBy: to)])"
    }

    // RIGHT
    // Returns the specified number of chars from the right of the string
    // let str = "Hello"
    // print(str.left(3))         // llo
    func right(_ from: Int) -> String {
        return "\(self[self.index(startIndex, offsetBy: self.length-from)...])"
    }

    // MID
    // Returns the specified number of chars from the startpoint of the string
    // let str = "Hello"
    // print(str.left(2,amount: 2))         // ll
    func mid(_ from: Int, amount: Int) -> String {
        let x = "\(self[self.index(startIndex, offsetBy: from)...])"
        return x.left(amount)
    }
}

Shorter in Swift 4/5:

var string = "123456"
string = String(string.prefix(3)) //"123"
string = String(string.suffix(3)) //"456"

Hope this will help little more :-

var string = "123456789"

If you want a substring after some particular index.

var indexStart  =  string.index(after: string.startIndex )// you can use any index in place of startIndex
var strIndexStart   = String (string[indexStart...])//23456789

If you want a substring after removing some string at the end.

var indexEnd  =  string.index(before: string.endIndex)
var strIndexEnd   = String (string[..<indexEnd])//12345678

you can also create indexes with the following code :-

var  indexWithOffset =  string.index(string.startIndex, offsetBy: 4)

var str = "Hello, playground"
let indexcut = str.firstIndex(of: ",")
print(String(str[..<indexcut!]))
print(String(str[indexcut!...]))

You can try in this way and will get proper results.


Swift5

(Java's substring method):

extension String {
    func subString(from: Int, to: Int) -> String {
       let startIndex = self.index(self.startIndex, offsetBy: from)
       let endIndex = self.index(self.startIndex, offsetBy: to)
       return String(self[startIndex..<endIndex])
    }
}

Usage:

var str = "Hello, Nick Michaels"
print(str.subString(from:7,to:20))
// print Nick Michaels

The conversion of your code to Swift 4 can also be done this way:

let str = "Hello, playground"
let index = str.index(of: ",")!
let substr = str.prefix(upTo: index)

You can use the code below to have a new string:

let newString = String(str.prefix(upTo: index))

with this method you can get specific range of string.you need to pass start index and after that total number of characters you want.

extension String{
    func substring(fromIndex : Int,count : Int) -> String{
        let startIndex = self.index(self.startIndex, offsetBy: fromIndex)
        let endIndex = self.index(self.startIndex, offsetBy: fromIndex + count)
        let range = startIndex..<endIndex
        return String(self[range])
    }
}