How to limit UITableView row reordering to a section

Solution 1:

This implementation will prevent re-ordering outside of the original section like Phil's answer, but it will also snap the record to the first or last row of the section, depending on where the drag went, instead of where it started.

- (NSIndexPath *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView targetIndexPathForMoveFromRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)sourceIndexPath toProposedIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)proposedDestinationIndexPath
{
  if (sourceIndexPath.section != proposedDestinationIndexPath.section) {
    NSInteger row = 0;
    if (sourceIndexPath.section < proposedDestinationIndexPath.section) {
      row = [tableView numberOfRowsInSection:sourceIndexPath.section] - 1;
    }
    return [NSIndexPath indexPathForRow:row inSection:sourceIndexPath.section];     
  }

  return proposedDestinationIndexPath;
}

Solution 2:

Simple enough, really.

The UITableViewDelegate has the method:

tableView:targetIndexPathForMoveFromRowAtIndexPath:toProposedIndexPath:

This gets called while the user is hovering over a potential drop point. You get a chance to say, "no! don't drop it there! Drop it over here instead". You can return a different index path to the proposed one.

All I did was check if the section indices match. If they do then great, return the proposed path. if not, return the source path. This also nicely prevents the rows in other sections even moving out of the way as you drag - and the dragged row will snap back to it's original position of you try to move it to another section.

- (NSIndexPath *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView targetIndexPathForMoveFromRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)sourceIndexPath toProposedIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)proposedDestinationIndexPath
{
    if( sourceIndexPath.section != proposedDestinationIndexPath.section )
    {
        return sourceIndexPath;
    }
    else
    {
        return proposedDestinationIndexPath;
    }
}

Solution 3:

Swifty swift version of Jason's answer for you lazy people:

Swift 3, 4 & 5

override func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, targetIndexPathForMoveFromRowAt sourceIndexPath: IndexPath, toProposedIndexPath proposedDestinationIndexPath: IndexPath) -> IndexPath {
    if sourceIndexPath.section != proposedDestinationIndexPath.section {
        var row = 0
        if sourceIndexPath.section < proposedDestinationIndexPath.section {
            row = self.tableView(tableView, numberOfRowsInSection: sourceIndexPath.section) - 1
        }
        return IndexPath(row: row, section: sourceIndexPath.section)
    }
    return proposedDestinationIndexPath
}

Swift 1 & 2

override func tableView(tableView: UITableView, targetIndexPathForMoveFromRowAtIndexPath sourceIndexPath: NSIndexPath, toProposedIndexPath proposedDestinationIndexPath: NSIndexPath) -> NSIndexPath {
    if sourceIndexPath.section != proposedDestinationIndexPath.section {
        var row = 0
        if sourceIndexPath.section < proposedDestinationIndexPath.section {
            row = self.tableView(tableView, numberOfRowsInSection: sourceIndexPath.section) - 1
        }
        return NSIndexPath(forRow: row, inSection: sourceIndexPath.section)
    }
    return proposedDestinationIndexPath
}