How to remove white space from Phone Number in iOS [duplicate] - ios

Question

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How to remove non numeric characters from phone number in objective-c?
(5 answers)
Closed 6 years ago.
I can't remove white space from Phone Number in iOS app.
Here is my codes.
ABMultiValueRef multiPhones = ABRecordCopyValue(person, kABPersonPhoneProperty);
for (CFIndex iPhone = 0; iPhone < ABMultiValueGetCount(multiPhones); iPhone++)
{
CFStringRef phoneNumberRef = ABMultiValueCopyValueAtIndex(multiPhones, iPhone);
NSString *phoneNumber = (__bridge NSString *) phoneNumberRef;
if (phoneNumber == nil) {
phoneNumber = #"";
}
if (phoneNumber.length == 0) continue;
// phone number = [phone]
phoneNumber = [phoneNumber stringByReplacingOccurrencesOfString:#"(" withString:#""];
phoneNumber = [phoneNumber stringByReplacingOccurrencesOfString:#")" withString:#""];
phoneNumber = [phoneNumber stringByReplacingOccurrencesOfString:#"-" withString:#""];
phoneNumber = [phoneNumber stringByReplacingOccurrencesOfString:#" " withString:#""];
// phone number = 217 9343234
[phoneNumbers addObject:phoneNumber];
}
I expect to get without white space. But it is not removed from the phone number.
How can I fix? Please help me. Thanks

Answer 1

You can do something a lot simpler than what you're currently doing with NSCharacterSet. Here's how:
NSCharacterSet defines a collection of characters. There are a few standard ones, such as decimalDigitsCharacterSet and alphaNumericCharacterSet.
There's also a neat method called invertedSet which returns a character set with all of the characters not included in the current one. Now, we need just one more bit of information.
NSString has a method called componentsSeparatedByCharactersInSet:, which gives you back an NSArray of the parts of the string, broken up around the characters in the characterSet you supply.
NSArray has a complementary function, componentsJoinedWithString: which you can use to turn the elements of an array (back) into a string. See where this is going?
First, define a character set that we want to include in our final output:
NSCharacterSet *digits = [NSCharacterSet decimalDigitCharacterSet];
Now, get everything else.
NSCharacterSet *illegalCharacters = [digits invertedSet]
Once we have the character set that we want, we can break out the string and reconstruct it:
NSArray *components = [phoneNumber componentsSeperatedByCharactersInSet:illegalCharacters];
NSString *output = [components componentsJoinedByString:#""];
That should give you the correct output. Four lines, and you're done:
NSCharacterSet *digits = [NSCharacterSet decimalDigitCharacterSet];
NSCharacterSet *illegalCharacters = [digits invertedSet];
NSArray *components = [phoneNumber componentsSeparatedByCharactersInSet:illegalCharacters];
NSString *output = [components componentsJoinedByString:#""];
You can use the whitespaceCharacterSet do do something similar to trim whitespace off of strings.
NSHipster has a great article about this, too.
EDIT:
If you want to include other symbols, such as the + prefix or parenthesis, you can create custom character sets with characterSetWithCharactersInString:. If you have two character sets, such as the decimal digits and the custom one you created, you could use NSMutableCharacterSet to modify the character set you have to include other characters.