What is the BOOL *stop argument for enumerateObjectsUsingBlock: used for?
The stop
argument to the Block allows you to stop the enumeration prematurely. It's the equivalent of break
from a normal for
loop. You can ignore it if you want to go through every object in the array.
for( id obj in arr ){
if( [obj isContagious] ){
break; // Stop enumerating
}
if( ![obj isKindOfClass:[Perefrigia class]] ){
continue; // Skip this object
}
[obj immanetizeTheEschaton];
}
[arr enumerateObjectsUsingBlock:^(id obj, NSUInteger idx, BOOL *stop) {
if( [obj isContagious] ){
*stop = YES; // Stop enumerating
return;
}
if( ![obj isKindOfClass:[Perefrigia class]] ){
return; // Skip this object
}
[obj immanentizeTheEschaton];
}];
That is an out parameter because it is a reference to a variable from the calling scope. It needs to be set inside your Block, but read inside of enumerateObjectsUsingBlock:
, the same way NSError
s are commonly passed back to your code from framework calls.
- (void)enumerateObjectsUsingBlock:(void (^)(id obj, NSUInteger idx, BOOL *stop))block {
// N.B: This is probably not how this method is actually implemented!
// It is just to demonstrate how the out parameter operates!
NSUInteger idx = 0;
for( id obj in self ){
BOOL stop = NO;
block(obj, idx++, &stop);
if( stop ){
break;
}
}
}