Dictionary default values

If you try to read a value from a dictionary using a key that doesn’t exist, Swift will send you back nil – nothing at all. While this might be what you want, there’s an alternative: we can provide the dictionary with a default value to use if we request a missing key.

To demonstrate this, let’s create a dictionary of favorite ice creams for two people:

let favoriteIceCream = [
    "Paul": "Chocolate",
    "Sophie": "Vanilla"
]

We can read Paul’s favorite ice cream like this:

favoriteIceCream["Paul"]

But if we tried reading the favorite ice cream for Charlotte, we’d get back nil, meaning that Swift doesn’t have a value for that key:

favoriteIceCream["Charlotte"]

We can fix this by giving the dictionary a default value of “Unknown”, so that when no ice cream is found for Charlotte we get back “Unknown” rather than nil:

favoriteIceCream["Charlotte", default: "Unknown"]

SPONSORED Transform your career with the iOS Lead Essentials. Unlock over 40 hours of expert training, mentorship, and community support to secure your place among the best devs. Click for early access to this limited offer and a FREE crash course.

Click to save your free spot now

Sponsor Hacking with Swift and reach the world's largest Swift community!