NSString padding / space between characters

Question

I'm looking for an easy way in Obj.C to do add a space between each character of my string. So "1234" would come out looking like "1 2 3 4".

I've found a perfect javascript example here: https://mcmap.net/q/423267/-add-a-space-between-characters-in-a-string-duplicate

Does anyone know of something similar for Obj.C? Kerning is a PITA in iOS, and this is ultimately all I need anyway...

Thoughts / comments?

Thanks! - Drew

Selfrealization

You can even just transcribe the javascript into Obj-C (this is basic!). What have you tried? – Vulcanite

Answer 1

Try This :

NSString *string =[NSString stringWithString:@"1234"];
NSMutableArray *buffer = [NSMutableArray arrayWithCapacity:[string length]];
for (int i = 0; i < [string length]; i++) {
    [buffer addObject:[NSString stringWithFormat:@"%C", [string characterAtIndex:i]]];
}
NSString *final_string = [buffer componentsJoinedByString:@" "];

Aenea

That looks like it works. Just a thought; I believe you could also put this line - [buffer addObject:[NSString stringWithFormat:@" "] - in the for loop after you add the object from the string string. – Aten

@qegal ya we can use that but buffer is NSMutableArray so in the end we need to use componentsJoinedByString because we want to get NSString – Aenea

This will break for characters that are more than one index (like many chinese characters). It may also break for characters like é which is built up of ´ and e. You could end up with "idé" turning into "i d ´ e" – Underpinning

Hector, I don't believe that I gave the down vote, did I? I hope not, what you did worked out great. Thanks for the tip David. Ultimately, this will only be a string of numbers that I'll be using this on and not with any real letters or words. – Selfrealization

Answer 2

To do this correctly, taking into account the problems mentioned in David Rönnqvist's comment, do something like this:

NSMutableString* result = [origString mutableCopy];
[result enumerateSubstringsInRange:NSMakeRange(0, [result length])
                           options:NSStringEnumerationByComposedCharacterSequences | NSStringEnumerationSubstringNotRequired
                        usingBlock:^(NSString *substring, NSRange substringRange, NSRange enclosingRange, BOOL *stop){
     if (substringRange.location > 0)
         [result insertString:@" " atIndex:substringRange.location];
}];

Earthnut

Answer 3

Do this:

    NSString *string =[NSString stringWithString:@"1234"];

    NSMutableString *spacedString= [NSMutableString stringWithString:[NSString stringWithFormat:@"%C",[string characterAtIndex:0]]];

    for(int i = 1; i<[string length];i++)
    {
        [spacedString appendString:[NSString stringWithFormat:@" %C",[string characterAtIndex:i]]];
    }

Panteutonism