How can I reverse a NSArray in Objective-C?

Viewed 146178

I need to reverse my NSArray.

As an example:

[1,2,3,4,5] must become: [5,4,3,2,1]

What is the best way to achieve this?

18 Answers

There is a much easier solution, if you take advantage of the built-in reverseObjectEnumerator method on NSArray, and the allObjects method of NSEnumerator:

NSArray* reversedArray = [[startArray reverseObjectEnumerator] allObjects];

allObjects is documented as returning an array with the objects that have not yet been traversed with nextObject, in order:

This array contains all the remaining objects of the enumerator in enumerated order.

For obtaining a reversed copy of an array, look at danielpunkass' solution using reverseObjectEnumerator.

For reversing a mutable array, you can add the following category to your code:

@implementation NSMutableArray (Reverse)

- (void)reverse {
    if ([self count] <= 1)
        return;
    NSUInteger i = 0;
    NSUInteger j = [self count] - 1;
    while (i < j) {
        [self exchangeObjectAtIndex:i
                  withObjectAtIndex:j];

        i++;
        j--;
    }
}

@end

DasBoot has the right approach, but there are a few mistakes in his code. Here's a completely generic code snippet that will reverse any NSMutableArray in place:

/* Algorithm: swap the object N elements from the top with the object N 
 * elements from the bottom. Integer division will wrap down, leaving 
 * the middle element untouched if count is odd.
 */
for(int i = 0; i < [array count] / 2; i++) {
    int j = [array count] - i - 1;

    [array exchangeObjectAtIndex:i withObjectAtIndex:j];
}

You can wrap that in a C function, or for bonus points, use categories to add it to NSMutableArray. (In that case, 'array' would become 'self'.) You can also optimize it by assigning [array count] to a variable before the loop and using that variable, if you desire.

If you only have a regular NSArray, there's no way to reverse it in place, because NSArrays cannot be modified. But you can make a reversed copy:

NSMutableArray * copy = [NSMutableArray arrayWithCapacity:[array count]];

for(int i = 0; i < [array count]; i++) {
    [copy addObject:[array objectAtIndex:[array count] - i - 1]];
}

Or use this little trick to do it in one line:

NSArray * copy = [[array reverseObjectEnumerator] allObjects];

If you just want to loop over an array backwards, you can use a for/in loop with [array reverseObjectEnumerator], but it's likely a bit more efficient to use -enumerateObjectsWithOptions:usingBlock::

[array enumerateObjectsWithOptions:NSEnumerationReverse
                        usingBlock:^(id obj, NSUInteger idx, BOOL *stop) {
    // This is your loop body. Use the object in obj here. 
    // If you need the index, it's in idx.
    // (This is the best feature of this method, IMHO.)
    // Instead of using 'continue', use 'return'.
    // Instead of using 'break', set '*stop = YES' and then 'return'.
    // Making the surrounding method/block return is tricky and probably
    // requires a '__block' variable.
    // (This is the worst feature of this method, IMHO.)
}];

(Note: Substantially updated in 2014 with five more years of Foundation experience, a new Objective-C feature or two, and a couple tips from the comments.)

I don't know of any built in method. But, coding by hand is not too difficult. Assuming the elements of the array you are dealing with are NSNumber objects of integer type, and 'arr' is the NSMutableArray that you want to reverse.

int n = [arr count];
for (int i=0; i<n/2; ++i) {
  id c  = [[arr objectAtIndex:i] retain];
  [arr replaceObjectAtIndex:i withObject:[arr objectAtIndex:n-i-1]];
  [arr replaceObjectAtIndex:n-i-1 withObject:c];
}

Since you start with a NSArray then you have to create the mutable array first with the contents of the original NSArray ('origArray').

NSMutableArray * arr = [[NSMutableArray alloc] init];
[arr setArray:origArray];

Edit: Fixed n -> n/2 in the loop count and changed NSNumber to the more generic id due to the suggestions in Brent's answer.

Here is a nice macro that will work for either NSMutableArray OR NSArray:

#define reverseArray(__theArray) {\
    if ([__theArray isKindOfClass:[NSMutableArray class]]) {\
        if ([(NSMutableArray *)__theArray count] > 1) {\
            NSUInteger i = 0;\
            NSUInteger j = [(NSMutableArray *)__theArray count]-1;\
            while (i < j) {\
                [(NSMutableArray *)__theArray exchangeObjectAtIndex:i\
                                                withObjectAtIndex:j];\
                i++;\
                j--;\
            }\
        }\
    } else if ([__theArray isKindOfClass:[NSArray class]]) {\
        __theArray = [[NSArray alloc] initWithArray:[[(NSArray *)__theArray reverseObjectEnumerator] allObjects]];\
    }\
}

To use just call: reverseArray(myArray);

Related