Split NSString from first whitespace - ios

Question

I have a name textfield in my app, where both the firstname maybe a middle and a lastname is written. Now I want to split these components by the first whitespace, the space between the firstname and the middlename/lastname, so I can put it into my model.
For example:
Textfield Text: John D. Sowers
String 1: John
String 2: D. Sowers.
I have tried using [[self componentsSeparatedByCharactersInSet:[NSCharacterSet whitespaceCharacterSet]] firstObject]; & [[self componentsSeparatedByCharactersInSet:[NSCharacterSet whitespaceCharacterSet]] lastObject];
But these only work if have a name without a middlename. Since it gets the first and the last object, and the middlename is ignored.
So how would I manage to accomplish what I want?

Answer 1

/*fullNameString is an NSString*/
NSRange rangeOfSpace = [fullNameString rangeOfString:#" "];
NSString *first = rangeOfSpace.location == NSNotFound ? fullNameString : [fullNameString substringToIndex:rangeOfSpace.location];
NSString *last = rangeOfSpace.location == NSNotFound ? nil :[fullNameString substringFromIndex:rangeOfSpace.location + 1];
...the conditional assignment (rangeOfSpace.location == NSNotFound ? <<default value>> : <<real first/last name>>) protects against an index out of bounds error.

Answer 2

Well that method is giving you an array with all the words split by white space, so then you can grab the first object as the first name and the rest of the objects as middle/last/etc
NSArray *ar = [self componentsSeparatedByCharactersInSet:[NSCharacterSet whitespaceCharacterSet]];
NSString *firstName = [ar firstObject];
NSMutableString *rest = [[NSMutableString alloc] init];
for(int i = 1; i < ar.count; i++)
{
[rest appendString:[ar objectAtIndex:i]];
[rest appendString:#" "];
}
//now first name has the first name
//rest has the rest
There might be easier way to do this, but this is one way..
Hope it helps
Daniel

Answer 3

I think this example below I did, solves your problem.
Remember you can assign values from the array directly, without transforming into string.
Here is an example:
NSString *textField = #"John D. Sowers";
NSArray *fullName = [textField componentsSeparatedByCharactersInSet:[NSCharacterSet characterSetWithCharactersInString:#" "]];
if (fullName.count)
{
if (fullName.count > 2)
{
NSLog(#"Array has more than 2 objects");
NSString *name = fullName[0];
NSLog(#"Name:%#",name);
NSString *middleName = fullName[1];
NSLog(#"Middle Name:%#",middleName);
NSString *lastName = fullName[2];
NSLog(#"Last Name:%#",lastName);
}
else if(fullName.count == 2)
{
NSLog(#"Array has 2 objects");
NSString *name = fullName[0];
NSLog(#"Name:%#",name);
NSString *lastName = fullName[1];
NSLog(#"Last Name:%#",lastName);
}
else
{
NSString *name = fullName[0];
}
}

Answer 4

I found this to be most robust:
NSString *fullNameString = #"\n Barnaby Marmaduke \n \n Aloysius ";
NSMutableArray *nameArray = [[fullNameString componentsSeparatedByCharactersInSet:[NSCharacterSet whitespaceAndNewlineCharacterSet]] mutableCopy];
[nameArray removeObject:#""];
NSString *firstName = [nameArray firstObject];
if(nameArray.count)
{
[nameArray removeObjectAtIndex:0];
}
NSString *nameRemainder = [nameArray componentsJoinedByString:#" "];
Bob's your uncle.