[Solved] Swift – what does Optional mean in log output? [closed]

Question

Optional means the value is Optional type. It can be either nil or a value. When working with cocoa api most of the method parameters are optional type. To get actual value from optional value you either use if-let binding or force it to unwrap it with ! operator. Suppose ve have a value of a optional type of Int. Let’s define it first.

let a: Int? = 5

The ? denotes it is an optional value. If you print this a it will write Optional(5). Let’s get the actual value from it.

if let actualA = a {
    println(actualA)
}

Now if a is not nil then the code inside if-let statement will be executed and it will print 5 on the console.

Optional types are for dealing with nil values in swift. They provide extra safety when working parameters and variables. If a value is not optional than it can never be nil. So we can safely do our work without worrying about nil values.

Accepted Answer

Optional means the value is Optional type. It can be either nil or a value. When working with cocoa api most of the method parameters are optional type. To get actual value from optional value you either use if-let binding or force it to unwrap it with ! operator. Suppose ve have a value of a optional type of Int. Let’s define it first.

let a: Int? = 5

The ? denotes it is an optional value. If you print this a it will write Optional(5). Let’s get the actual value from it.

if let actualA = a {
    println(actualA)
}

Now if a is not nil then the code inside if-let statement will be executed and it will print 5 on the console.

Optional types are for dealing with nil values in swift. They provide extra safety when working parameters and variables. If a value is not optional than it can never be nil. So we can safely do our work without worrying about nil values.