Question

I need to merge two NSDictionarys into one provided that if there are dictionaries within the dictionaries, they are also merged.

More or less like jQuery’s extend function.

Answer 1

NSDictionary+Merge.h

#import <Foundation/Foundation.h>

@interface NSDictionary (Merge)

+ (NSDictionary *) dictionaryByMerging: (NSDictionary *) dict1 with: (NSDictionary *) dict2;
- (NSDictionary *) dictionaryByMergingWith: (NSDictionary *) dict;

@end

---

NSDictionary+Merge.m

#import "NSDictionary+Merge.h"

@implementation NSDictionary (Merge)

+ (NSDictionary *) dictionaryByMerging: (NSDictionary *) dict1 with: (NSDictionary *) dict2 {
    NSMutableDictionary * result = [NSMutableDictionary dictionaryWithDictionary:dict1];

[dict2 enumerateKeysAndObjectsUsingBlock: ^(id key, id obj, BOOL *stop) {
    if (![dict1 objectForKey:key]) {
        if ([obj isKindOfClass:[NSDictionary class]]) {
            NSDictionary * newVal = [[dict1 objectForKey: key] dictionaryByMergingWith: (NSDictionary *) obj];
            [result setObject: newVal forKey: key];
        } else {
            [result setObject: obj forKey: key];
        }
    }
}];

    return (NSDictionary *) [[result mutableCopy] autorelease];
}
- (NSDictionary *) dictionaryByMergingWith: (NSDictionary *) dict {
    return [[self class] dictionaryByMerging: self with: dict];
}

@end