Swift enum pattern matching with associated values - cannot invoke function

Question

I get an error I cannot explain when trying to call the count() function in a switch case with enums:

enum Token{

    case Name(String)

    var count:Int{ 
        switch self{
        case .Name(let string):
            return count(string)
        }
    }
}

The error is Cannot invoke 'count' with an argument list of type '((String))' .

I also tried

case .Name(let string):
      return string.characters.count

with the error 'String' does not have a member named 'characters' .

Anybody an idea what I`m doing wrong?

Answer 1

Swift thinks you are trying to access the count property instead of calling the global count function. You can fix this by calling Swift.count(string) :

Swift 1.2:

enum Token{

    case Name(String)

    var count:Int{
        switch self{
        case .Name(let string):
            return Swift.count(string)
        }
    }
}

For Swift 2:

The second syntax you tried is actually correct for Swift 2:

        case .Name(let string):
            return string.characters.count