~= operator in Swift

I recently downloaded the Advanced NSOperations sample app from Apple and found this code...

// Operators to use in the switch statement.
private func ~=(lhs: (String, Int, String?), rhs: (String, Int, String?)) -> Bool {
    return lhs.0 ~= rhs.0 && lhs.1 ~= rhs.1 && lhs.2 == rhs.2
}

private func ~=(lhs: (String, OperationErrorCode, String), rhs: (String, Int, String?)) -> Bool {
    return lhs.0 ~= rhs.0 && lhs.1.rawValue ~= rhs.1 && lhs.2 == rhs.2
}

It seems to use the ~= operator against Strings and Ints but I've never seen it before.

What is it?

Solution 1:

Simply use a shortcut to "range": you can construct a range and "~=" means "contains". (other can add more theoretical details, but the sense is this). Read it as "contains"

let n: Int = 100

// verify if n is in a range, say: 10 to 100 (included)

if n>=10 && n<=100 {
    print("inside!")
}

// using "patterns"
if 10...100 ~= n {
    print("inside! (using patterns)")

}

try with some values of n.

Is used widely for example in HTTP response:

if let response = response as? HTTPURLResponse , 200...299 ~= response.statusCode {
                let contentLength : Int64 = response.expectedContentLength
                completionHandler(contentLength)
            } else {
                completionHandler(nil)

Solution 2:

It is an operator used for pattern matching in a case statement.

You can take a look here to know how you can use and leverage it providing your own implementation:

• http://oleb.net/blog/2015/09/swift-pattern-matching/
• http://austinzheng.com/2014/12/17/custom-pattern-matching/

Here is a simple example of defining a custom one and using it:

struct Person {
    let name : String
}

// Function that should return true if value matches against pattern
func ~=(pattern: String, value: Person) -> Bool {
    return value.name == pattern
}

let p = Person(name: "Alessandro")

switch p {
// This will call our custom ~= implementation, all done through type inference
case "Alessandro":
    print("Hey it's me!")
default:
    print("Not me")
}
// Output: "Hey it's me!"

if case "Alessandro" = p {
    print("It's still me!")
}
// Output: "It's still me!"