How to append one array to another array

Paul Hudson    February 12th 2018    @twostraws

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"]

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

One option for joining arrays is 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

Available from iOS – learn more in my book Pro Swift

Did this solution work for you? Please pass it on!

Tweet

Other people are reading…

• What are lazy variables?
• How to remove duplicate items from an array
• Private vs fileprivate: what’s the difference?
• How to use @available to deprecate old APIs
• How to use map() with an optional value

About the Swift Knowledge Base

This is part of the Swift Knowledge Base, a free, searchable collection of solutions for common iOS questions.