swiftdictionaryinout

How to update a value in a nested dictionary given path fragment in Swift?


I have a nested dictionary and an array containing path fragment. I need to update the value at that location.

I am possibly looking for a recursive function instead of extensions to Dictionary types and such.

I am not able to do this recursively because I making a copy of the inout param.

var dict: [String: Any] = ["channel": ["item": ["title": 1111]]]
var pathFrag = ["channel", "item", "title"]
var val = 123

func addAt(pathFrag: inout [String], val: Int, data: inout [String: Any]) {
    if let first = pathFrag.first {
        if let item = data[first] {
            print(item)
            pathFrag.remove(at: 0)
            if !pathFrag.isEmpty {
                var d: [String: Any] = data[first] as! [String: Any]
                print("e: \(d)")
                return addAt(pathFrag: &pathFrag, string: string, data: &d)
            } else {
                data[first] = val
                print("else: \(data)")  // ["title": 123]
            }
        }
    }
}


addAt(pathFrag: &pathFrag, val: val, data: &dict)
print(dict)

How to update the value of title to 123?


Solution

  • Note that var d: [String: Any] = data[first] as! [String: Any] makes a copy of data[first] and not a reference to it like & and inout. So, when addAt(pathFrag: &pathFrag, string: string, data: &d) is called, only d is changed. To make this change reflect on the original data[first], you have to assign d back to data[first].

    Do this:

    var dict: [String: Any] = ["channel": ["item": ["title": 1111]]]
    var pathFrag = ["channel", "item", "title"]
    
    func addAt(pathFrag: inout [String], data: inout [String: Any]) {
        if let first = pathFrag.first {
            if let item = data[first] {
                pathFrag.remove(at: 0)
                if !pathFrag.isEmpty {
                    var d: [String: Any] = data[first] as! [String: Any]
                    addAt(pathFrag: &pathFrag, data: &d)
                    data[first] = d
                } else {
                    data[first] = 123
                }
            }
        }
    }
    
    
    addAt(pathFrag: &pathFrag, data: &dict)
    print(dict)