How to append one array to another array

Swift version: 5.1

Paul Hudson    @twostraws    September 19th 2019

There are three ways of adding one array to another, and you can use whichever syntax you prefer.

First, make a couple of test arrays to work with:

var first = ["John", "Paul"]
let second = ["George", "Ringo"]

Note: I made the first array mutable so we can join the second array to it.

One option for joining arrays is the append(contentsOf:) method, used like this:

first.append(contentsOf: second)

Another option is using the += operator, which is overloaded for arrays to combine elements:

first += second

The third option is to use a regular + to create a new array by combining two others:

let third = first + second

All three options produce the same resulting array, albeit with different approaches.

Available from iOS – learn more in my book Pro Swift

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