how to save and read array of array in NSUserdefaults in swift?

The question reads “array of array” but I think most people probably come here just wanting to know how to save an array to UserDefaults. For those people I will add a few common examples.

String array

Save array

let array = ["horse", "cow", "camel", "sheep", "goat"]

let defaults = UserDefaults.standard
defaults.set(array, forKey: "SavedStringArray")

Retrieve array

let defaults = UserDefaults.standard
let myarray = defaults.stringArray(forKey: "SavedStringArray") ?? [String]()

Int array

Save array

let array = [15, 33, 36, 723, 77, 4]

let defaults = UserDefaults.standard
defaults.set(array, forKey: "SavedIntArray")

Retrieve array

let defaults = UserDefaults.standard
let array = defaults.array(forKey: "SavedIntArray")  as? [Int] ?? [Int]()

Bool array

Save array

let array = [true, true, false, true, false]

let defaults = UserDefaults.standard
defaults.set(array, forKey: "SavedBoolArray")

Retrieve array

let defaults = UserDefaults.standard
let array = defaults.array(forKey: "SavedBoolArray")  as? [Bool] ?? [Bool]()

Date array

Save array

let array = [Date(), Date(), Date(), Date()]

let defaults = UserDefaults.standard
defaults.set(array, forKey: "SavedDateArray")

Retrieve array

let defaults = UserDefaults.standard
let array = defaults.array(forKey: "SavedDateArray")  as? [Date] ?? [Date]()

Object array

Custom objects (and consequently arrays of objects) take a little more work to save to UserDefaults. See the following links for how to do it.

Notes

  • The nil coalescing operator (??) allows you to return the saved array or an empty array without crashing. It means that if the object returns nil, then the value following the ?? operator will be used instead.
  • As you can see, the basic setup was the same for Int, Bool, and Date. I also tested it with Double. As far as I know, anything that you can save in a property list will work like this.

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