Question

I have following string;

    key = value = 123

I want to split up this string into two strings "key" and "value = 123". What is the best way to do this?

I was thinking of using componentsSeparatedByString by “=” and then combine last two components but for me, "key =" is fixed but right side it can be any value like "value1 = 123, value2 = 123" so I can’t use this approach.

Basically if there is a good way to get key (all characters before first = sign) and after first = sign whatever remained is the value then it would be really helpful.

Answer 1

Use the NSScanner!

       NSString *key, *value;
       NSScanner *scanner = [NSScanner scannerWithString:yourstring];
       [scanner scanUpToString:@"=" intoString:&key];
       [scanner scanString:@"=" intoString:nil];
       value = [yourstring substringFromIndex:scanner.scanLocation];

       key = [key stringByTrimmingCharactersInSet:[NSCharacterSet whitespaceCharacterSet]];
       value = [value stringByTrimmingCharactersInSet:[NSCharacterSet whitespaceCharacterSet]];

String "key = value1 = 123, value2 = 456" would result in key = "key" and value = "value1 = 123, value2 = 456".