Get the initials from a name and limit it to 2 initials - ios

Question

I have a the following name: John Fitzgerald Kennedy.
To get its initials, I created a method:
extension String {
public var first: String {
return String(self[startIndex])
}
}
let initials = "John Fitzgerald Kennedy".componentsSeparatedByString(" ")
.reduce("") { $0 + $1.first }
The output is : JFK
Is there an elegant way with my method (with reduce) to limit those initials to JK only, removing then the letter in the middle?

Answer 1

If you target iOS 9 and above:
let formatter = PersonNameComponentsFormatter()
if let components = formatter.personNameComponents(from: name) {
formatter.style = .abbreviated
return formatter.string(from: components)
}

Answer 2

Swift 2.0
How about this:
let initials = "John Fitzgerald Kennedy".componentsSeparatedByString(" ")
.reduce("") { ($0 == "" ? "" : $0.first) + $1.first}
That will also take care of the case where the name has no middle name or more than 1 middle name.
Swift 3
let initials = "John Fitzgerald Kennedy".components(separatedBy: " ").reduce("") { ($0 == "" ? "" : "\($0.characters.first!)") + "\($1.characters.first!)" }
Swift 4
let initials = "John Fitzgerald Kennedy".components(separatedBy: " ").reduce("") { ($0 == "" ? "" : "\($0.first!)") + "\($1.first!)" }

Answer 3

Swift 4, little bit of extra work, but using PersonNameComponentsFormatter.
// Note: We Account for name suffix ( Example: III, II, Jr, Sr ) or prefixes ( Mr, Mrs )
let fullName = “Mr John Jacob Smith III”
let formatter = PersonNameComponentsFormatter()
guard let personNameComponents = formatter.personNameComponents(from: fullName) else {
return ""
}
return personNameComponents.initials
// Note: Also create Extension for PersonNameComponents
// PersonNameComponents+Initials.swift
import Foundation
extension PersonNameComponents {
var fullName: String {
return [givenName, middleName, familyName].compactMap{ $0 }.joined(separator: " ")
}
var fullNameWithSuffix: String {
return [givenName, middleName, familyName, nameSuffix].compactMap{ $0 }.joined(separator: " ")
}
var initials: String {
let firstName = givenName?.first ?? Character(" ")
let lastName = familyName?.first ?? Character(" ")
return "\(firstName)\(lastName)".trimmingCharacters(in: .whitespaces)
}
// Note: If You need first, middle, last
/*
var initials: String {
let firstName = givenName?.first ?? Character(" ")
let middleName = middleName?.first ?? Character(" ")
let lastName = familyName?.first ?? Character(" ")
return "\(firstName)\(middleName)\(lastName)".trimmingCharacters(in: .whitespaces)
}
*/
}

Answer 4

This is my solution.
Swift 5
extension String {
var initials: String {
return self.components(separatedBy: " ")
.reduce("") {
($0.isEmpty ? "" : "\($0.first?.uppercased() ?? "")") +
($1.isEmpty ? "" : "\($1.first?.uppercased() ?? "")")
}
}
}

Answer 5

extension String {
var initials: String {
return self.components(separatedBy: " ").filter { !$0.isEmpty }.reduce("") { ($0 == "" ? "" : "\($0.first!)") + "\($1.first!)" }
}
}
This fixes the crashing problem on Guy Daher's solution.

Answer 6

Enumerate and filter by odd index
let initials = "John Fitzgerald Kennedy".componentsSeparatedByString(" ")
.enumerate()
.filter { (index, _) -> Bool in return index % 2 == 0 }
.reduce("") { a, i in return a + i.element.first }
Note: This one is not care about no middle name or more than one