Array (Inside of a String) Conversion, Swift 4

Question

Does anyone know the simplest way to convert an Array inside of a String to an actual Array without effecting any characters?

For Example:

var array: [String] = []
let myStr = "[\"Hello,\", \"World\"]"
// I would like 'array' to store: ["Hello,", "World"]

I thought it could be done with Array(myStr) but that would only make an array of all the characters.

Help would be appreciated. Thank you.

Answer 1

You can decode it with JSONDecoder, since it is a JSON.

Example below:

let myStr = "[\"Hello,\", \"World\"]"
let data = Data(myStr.utf8)

do {
    let decoded = try JSONDecoder().decode([String].self, from: data)
    print("Decoded:", decoded)
} catch {
    fatalError("Error")
}

// Prints:   Decoded: ["Hello,", "World"]

What is happening:

1. Your myStr string is converted to Data.
2. This data is then decoded as [String] - which is an array of strings.
3. The decoded data of type [String] is then printed.

We use a do-try-catch pattern to catch errors, such as incorrect format or data entered.