NSRange

NSRange is one of the essential types of Foundation. Passed around and returned in methods throughout the framework, being well-versed in this struct has a range of benefits, which this week’s article will help you locate. Ranges are data types used to describe a contiguous interval of integers. They are most commonly used with strings, arrays, and similarly-ordered collections.

→ nshipster.com/nsrange/

NSRange is a Foundation struct for a contiguous interval of integers, with location (start) and length. It helps avoid off-by-one errors compared to start/end pairs.

Common uses:

• Strings: rangeOfString: finds substrings; substringWithRange: extracts them.
• Arrays: subarrayWithRange: gets slices.
• Check containment with NSLocationInRange.

Functions:

• NSMakeRange(loc, len) creates one.
• NSMaxRange(range) gives end (location + length).
• NSEqualRanges, NSIntersectionRange, NSUnionRange for comparisons and sets.
• NSStringFromRange, NSRangeFromString for string conversion.

Wrap in NSValue for collections. NSRangePointer is a typedef for NSRange *. CFRange is Core Foundation's version with CFIndex and CFRangeMake.