Where usage in Swift

Where is a powerful keyword within Swift to easily filter out values. It can be used in many different variants from which most of them are listed in this post.

Usage in a switch

Consider having the following enum:

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enum Action {
    case createUser(age: Int)
    case createPost
    case logout
}

Using where you can easily filter the case for a specific age range:

func printAction(action: Action) {
    switch action {
    case .createUser(let age) where age < 21:
        print("Young and wild!")
    case .createUser:
        print("Older and wise!")
    case .createPost:
        print("Creating a post")
    case .logout:
        print("Logout")
    }
}

printAction(action: Action.createUser(age: 18)) // Young and wild
printAction(action: Action.createUser(age: 25)) // Older and wise

Usage in a for loop

Printing even numbers using a for-loop.

let numbers = [0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]

for number in numbers where number % 2 == 0 {
    print(number) // 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10
}

Usage in protocol extensions

Extending an Array type based on its element.

extension Array where Element == Int {
    func printAverageAge() {
        let total = reduce(0, +)
        let average = total / count
        print("Average age is \(average)")
    }
}

let ages = [20, 26, 40, 60, 84]
ages.printAverageAge() // Average age is 46

Usage in first

Get a first element based on a condition.

let names = ["Henk", "John", "Jack"]
let firstJname = names.first(where: { (name) -> Bool in
    return name.first == "J"
}) // Returns John

Usage in contains

Determine if an array contains a condition matching element.

let fruits = ["Banana", "Apple", "Kiwi"]
let containsBanana = fruits.contains(where: { (fruit) in
    return fruit == "Banana"
}) // Returns true

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Usage in initialisers

Conditional initialisers to only allow for certain types.

extension String {
    init(collection: T) where T.Element == String {
        self = collection.joined(separator: ",")
    }
}

let clubs = String(collection: ["AJAX", "Barcelona", "PSG"])
print(clubs) // prints "AJAX, Barcelona, PSG"