Looping thru NSArray of NSString logic - ios

Question

I need help with the following:
I have an NSArray with NSStrings, I want to loop thru these strings and find a matching string, when match is found the strings after this match will be extracted into an NSDictionary until a certain other match is hit.
Here is an example:
NSArray *array = #[#"Fruit",#"Apple",#"Vegtable",#"Tomato",#"Fruit",#"Banana",#"Vegtable",#"Cucumber"];
So I want to loop thru this array and split it in 2 arrays one for fruit and one for vegetable.
Anyone can help with the logic?
Thanks

Answer 1

This is probably the simplest way to solve the problem:
NSArray *array = #[#"Chair",#"Fruit",#"Apple",#"Orange",#"Vegetable",#"Tomato",#"Fruit",#"Banana",#"Vegetable",#"Cucumber"];
NSMutableArray *fruitArray = [NSMutableArray array];
NSMutableArray *vegetableArray = [NSMutableArray array];
NSMutableArray *currentTarget = nil;
for (NSString *item in array)
{
if ([item isEqualToString: #"Fruit"])
{
currentTarget = fruitArray;
}
else if ([item isEqualToString: #"Vegetable"])
{
currentTarget = vegetableArray;
}
else
{
[currentTarget addObject: item];
}
}
In one iteration over the array, you just keep adding items to a result array using a pointer to one of two result arrays according to the last occurrence of the #"Fruit" or #"Vegetable" string.
This algorithm ignores all items before the first occurrence of the #"Fruit" or #"Vegetable" string, because the currentTarget is initialized to nil, which ignores the addObject: messages. If you want different behaviour, just change the initialization.
You said you wanted the results in a NSDictionary, but didn't specify what should be the key. If you want one NSDictionary with two keys, Fruit and Vegetable, and values NSArrays containing the items, just use the arrays previously created:
NSDictionary *dict = #{ #"Fruit": fruitArray, #"Vegetable": vegetableArray };
PS: You have a typo in your example, Vegtable instead of Vegetable. I corrected it in my code, so keep it in mind.

Answer 2

If I completely understand you:
NSArray *array = #[#"Fruit",#"Apple",#"Vegtable",#"Tomato",#"Fruit",#"Banana",#"Vegtable",#"Cucumber"];
NSMutableArray *fruits = [NSMutableArray array];
NSMutableArray *vegtables = [NSMutableArray array];
for (NSInteger i = 0; i < array.count; ++i){
if ([array[i] isEqualToString:#"Fruit"]){
++i;
[fruits addObject:array[i]];
}
else if ([array[i] isEqualToString:#"Vegtable"]){
++i;
[vegtables addObject:array[i]];
}
}