Import and read text file in Swift

Question

I tried all the different approaches posted here, and got various errors on each: https://codereview.stackexchange.com/questions/100773/load-text-file-into-an-array-in-swift (Are these up-to-date?)

Most recently, I tried:

    func linesFromResourceForced(fileName: String) -> [String] {

    let path = NSBundle.mainBundle().pathForResource(fileName, ofType: nil)!
    let content = try! String(contentsOfFile: path, encoding: NSUTF8StringEncoding)
    return content.componentsSeparatedByString("\n")
}

let lines = linesFromResourceForced("file.txt")
print (lines)

And got these errors: "let lines = " --> Cannot convert value of type 'String' to expected argument type 'ViewController' print(lines) --> Expected declaration

What am I doing wrong? I would also appreciate any other recommendations for the simplest way to import and read text. Thanks!

Answer 1

Let's say you want to load the lines from the text file in an iOS app.

class ViewController: UIViewController {

    override func viewDidLoad() {
        super.viewDidLoad()
        // Do any additional setup after loading the view, typically from a nib.

        let lines = linesFromResourceForced("file.txt")
        print (lines)
    }

    func linesFromResourceForced(fileName: String) -> [String] {

        let path = NSBundle.mainBundle().pathForResource(fileName, ofType: nil)!
        let content = try! String(contentsOfFile: path, encoding: NSUTF8StringEncoding)
        return content.componentsSeparatedByString("\n")
    }
}

You need to declare the function in your class, and call it in the context of another function. So when your view controller loads, viewDidLoad , it will call linesFromResourceForced to load up your array of lines and print them in that context.

Answer 2

Updated for Swift 4+

            let path = Bundle.main.path(forResource: "myfile.txt", ofType: nil)!
            let myStringText = try String(contentsOfFile: path, encoding: String.Encoding.utf8)