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


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.

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