How to find the highest value in an array
Swift version: 5.10
All arrays have a built-in method called max(), which returns the highest item in the array. This comes with a default implementation if the elements of the array conform to Comparable: it will simply compare all items until it finds the one that compares highest.
For example, this code puts 5 into the max constant:
let numbers = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
let max = numbers.max()Note: because max() can be called on an empty array, it returns an optional – you need to check and unwrap it yourself.
SPONSORED Alex is the iOS & Mac developer’s ultimate AI assistant. It integrates with Xcode, offering a best-in-class Swift coding agent. Generate modern SwiftUI from images. Fast-apply suggestions from Claude 3.5 Sonnet, o3-mini, and DeepSeek R1. Autofix Swift 6 errors and warnings. And so much more. Start your 7-day free trial today!
Sponsor Hacking with Swift and reach the world's largest Swift community!
Available from iOS 8.0 – learn more in my book Pro Swift
Similar solutions…
- How to use reduce() to condense an array into a single value
- What is a monad?
- What is an optional value in Swift?
- How to find the longest initial sequence in an array
- How to safely use reference types inside value types with isKnownUniquelyReferenced()
About the Swift Knowledge Base
This is part of the Swift Knowledge Base, a free, searchable collection of solutions for common iOS questions.
