How to parse a stringified array in iOS Swift

Question

How to parse any stringified array such as "[\"Bob\", \"Tim\", \"Tina\"]" in Swift? It should return a JSON array such as ["Bob", "Tim", "Tina"].

Sorry if this is a duplicate question, but I could not find any answer for a generic stringified array where the structure of the array elements are not known.

Answer 1

Try doing it like this, Works for me every time:

let jsonText = "[\"Bob\", \"Tim\", \"Tina\"]"

    var array: [String]?

    if let data = jsonText.data(using: String.Encoding.utf8) {

        do {
            array = try JSONSerialization.jsonObject(with: data, options: []) as? [String]

            if let myArray = array {
                 print(myArray)
            }
        } catch let error as NSError {
            print(error)
        }
    }

It prints : ["Bob", "Tim", "Tina"] Hope it helps!!