How do I concatenate or merge arrays in Swift?

If there are two arrays created in swift like this:

var a:[CGFloat] = [1, 2, 3]
var b:[CGFloat] = [4, 5, 6]

How can they be merged to [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]?

Solution 1:

You can concatenate the arrays with +, building a new array

let c = a + b
print(c) // [1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0, 5.0, 6.0]

or append one array to the other with += (or append):

a += b

// Or:
a.append(contentsOf: b)  // Swift 3
a.appendContentsOf(b)    // Swift 2
a.extend(b)              // Swift 1.2

print(a) // [1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0, 5.0, 6.0]

Solution 2:

With Swift 5, according to your needs, you may choose one of the six following ways to concatenate/merge two arrays.

#1. Merge two arrays into a new array with Array's +(_:_:) generic operator

Array has a +(_:_:) generic operator. +(_:_:) has the following declaration:

Creates a new collection by concatenating the elements of a collection and a sequence.

static func + <Other>(lhs: Array<Element>, rhs: Other) -> Array<Element> where Other : Sequence, Self.Element == Other.Element

The following Playground sample code shows how to merge two arrays of type [Int] into a new array using +(_:_:) generic operator:

let array1 = [1, 2, 3]
let array2 = [4, 5, 6]

let flattenArray = array1 + array2
print(flattenArray) // prints [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]

#2. Append the elements of an array into an existing array with Array's +=(_:_:) generic operator

Array has a +=(_:_:) generic operator. +=(_:_:) has the following declaration:

Appends the elements of a sequence to a range-replaceable collection.

static func += <Other>(lhs: inout Array<Element>, rhs: Other) where Other : Sequence, Self.Element == Other.Element

The following Playground sample code shows how to append the elements of an array of type [Int] into an existing array using +=(_:_:) generic operator:

var array1 = [1, 2, 3]
let array2 = [4, 5, 6]

array1 += array2
print(array1) // prints [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]

#3. Append an array to another array with Array's append(contentsOf:) method

Swift Array has an append(contentsOf:) method. append(contentsOf:) has the following declaration:

Adds the elements of a sequence or collection to the end of this collection.

mutating func append<S>(contentsOf newElements: S) where S : Sequence, Self.Element == S.Element

The following Playground sample code shows how to append an array to another array of type [Int] using append(contentsOf:) method:

var array1 = [1, 2, 3]
let array2 = [4, 5, 6]

array1.append(contentsOf: array2)
print(array1) // prints [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]

#4. Merge two arrays into a new array with Sequence's flatMap(_:) method

Swift provides a flatMap(_:) method for all types that conform to Sequence protocol (including Array). flatMap(_:) has the following declaration:

Returns an array containing the concatenated results of calling the given transformation with each element of this sequence.

func flatMap<SegmentOfResult>(_ transform: (Self.Element) throws -> SegmentOfResult) rethrows -> [SegmentOfResult.Element] where SegmentOfResult : Sequence

The following Playground sample code shows how to merge two arrays of type [Int] into a new array using flatMap(_:) method:

let array1 = [1, 2, 3]
let array2 = [4, 5, 6]

let flattenArray = [array1, array2].flatMap({ (element: [Int]) -> [Int] in
    return element
})
print(flattenArray) // prints [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]

#5. Merge two arrays into a new array with Sequence's joined() method and Array's init(_:) initializer

Swift provides a joined() method for all types that conform to Sequence protocol (including Array). joined() has the following declaration:

Returns the elements of this sequence of sequences, concatenated.

func joined() -> FlattenSequence<Self>

Besides, Swift Array has a init(_:) initializer. init(_:) has the following declaration:

Creates an array containing the elements of a sequence.

init<S>(_ s: S) where Element == S.Element, S : Sequence

Therefore, the following Playground sample code shows how to merge two arrays of type [Int] into a new array using joined() method and init(_:) initializer:

let array1 = [1, 2, 3]
let array2 = [4, 5, 6]

let flattenCollection = [array1, array2].joined() // type: FlattenBidirectionalCollection<[Array<Int>]>
let flattenArray = Array(flattenCollection)
print(flattenArray) // prints [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]

#6. Merge two arrays into a new array with Array's reduce(_:_:) method

Swift Array has a reduce(_:_:) method. reduce(_:_:) has the following declaration:

Returns the result of combining the elements of the sequence using the given closure.

func reduce<Result>(_ initialResult: Result, _ nextPartialResult: (Result, Element) throws -> Result) rethrows -> Result

The following Playground code shows how to merge two arrays of type [Int] into a new array using reduce(_:_:) method:

let array1 = [1, 2, 3]
let array2 = [4, 5, 6]

let flattenArray = [array1, array2].reduce([], { (result: [Int], element: [Int]) -> [Int] in
    return result + element
})
print(flattenArray) // prints [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]

Solution 3:

If you are not a big fan of operator overloading, or just more of a functional type:

// use flatMap
let result = [
    ["merge", "me"], 
    ["We", "shall", "unite"],
    ["magic"]
].flatMap { $0 }
// Output: ["merge", "me", "We", "shall", "unite", "magic"]

// ... or reduce
[[1],[2],[3]].reduce([], +)
// Output: [1, 2, 3]

Solution 4:

My favorite method since Swift 2.0 is flatten

var a:[CGFloat] = [1, 2, 3]
var b:[CGFloat] = [4, 5, 6]

let c = [a, b].flatten()

This will return FlattenBidirectionalCollection so if you just want a CollectionType this will be enough and you will have lazy evaluation for free. If you need exactly the Array you can do this:

let c = Array([a, b].flatten())

Solution 5:

To complete the list of possible alternatives, reduce could be used to implement the behavior of flatten:

var a = ["a", "b", "c"] 
var b = ["d", "e", "f"]

let res = [a, b].reduce([],combine:+)

The best alternative (performance/memory-wise) among the ones presented is simply flatten, that just wrap the original arrays lazily without creating a new array structure.

But notice that flatten does not return a LazyCollection, so that lazy behavior will not be propagated to the next operation along the chain (map, flatMap, filter, etc...).

If lazyness makes sense in your particular case, just remember to prepend or append a .lazy to flatten(), for example, modifying Tomasz sample this way:

let c = [a, b].lazy.flatten()