I’m trying to make an array from file path components. I have an array

Question

0

Asked: May 28, 20262026-05-28T07:31:35+00:00 2026-05-28T07:31:35+00:00

I’m trying to make an array from file path components. I have an array

0

I’m trying to make an array from file path components. I have an array of file paths (as NSStrings) and I am looping through them, then breaking each down like so:

//get the array of image paths
imageList = [[notification userInfo] objectForKey:@"images"];

//loop through the array and get the image names
for (NSString* thisImagePath in imageList) {
    NSArray* thisImagePathArray = [thisImagePath componentsSeparatedByString:@"/"];

Half the time my program is crashing here. I get the following error message:

-[NSCFArray componentsSeparatedByString:]: unrecognized selector sent to instance 0x1a7940

imageList is an array of files dropped onto a view. Because this problem started popping up I am only dropping one file at a time. For example:

This file did not work:

/Users/steve/Desktop/thinkstock/PT121211_PI_bariatric.tif

This did

/Users/steve/Desktop/thinkstock/Studentexhausted82557038.jpg

so, if I understand the error message correctly I am trying to apply the componentsSeparatedByString selector to an NSArray, which doesn’t support that selector. But in my loop I am calling for NSString, if the object was an array shouldn’t I crash there? (And I am 99% sure the object at index 0 of imageList is a string.)

My objective is to get the file name from the file path, is there a better way of doing it than the approach I am taking?

When I step through (putting a debug point at the componentsSeparatedByString line it seems to work as I planned:

enter image description here

But if I hit continue it crashes.

As suggested I changed my code to log data:

//loop through the array and get the image names
for (NSString* thisImagePath in imageList) {
if (![thisImagePath isKindOfClass:[NSString class]]) { 
    NSLog(@"The class of this object is: %@", [thisImagePath className]);
}
NSLog(@"%@", thisImagePath); 

NSArray* thisImagePathArray = [thisImagePath componentsSeparatedByString:@"/"];
NSString* thisImageName = [thisImagePathArray objectAtIndex:[thisImagePathArray count]-1];

The conditional for the class check never get triggered, as everything is of NSString class. However, some files work, some don’t…

2012-01-19 13:59:04.631 archiveDrop_cocoa[76758:10b] /Users/steve/Desktop/thinkstock/rbrb_0556.jpg
2012-01-19 13:59:06.799 archiveDrop_cocoa[76758:10b] /Users/steve/Desktop/thinkstock/Manracefinish78464007.jpg
2012-01-19 13:59:08.319 archiveDrop_cocoa[76758:10b] /Users/steve/Desktop/thinkstock/ManLabtop86510699.jpg
2012-01-19 13:59:08.320 archiveDrop_cocoa[76758:10b] *** -[NSCFArray componentsSeparatedByString:]: unrecognized selector sent to instance 0x1a75c0
2012-01-19 13:59:08.321 archiveDrop_cocoa[76758:10b] *** Canceling drag because exception 'NSInvalidArgumentException' (reason '*** -[NSCFArray componentsSeparatedByString:]: unrecognized selector sent to instance 0x1a75c0') was raised during a dragging session
2012-01-19 13:59:10.726 archiveDrop_cocoa[76758:10b] /Users/steve/Desktop/thinkstock/LasVegassign78058995.jpg
2012-01-19 13:59:10.728 archiveDrop_cocoa[76758:10b] *** -[NSCFArray componentsSeparatedByString:]: unrecognized selector sent to instance 0x1a9010
2012-01-19 13:59:10.729 archiveDrop_cocoa[76758:10b] *** Canceling drag because exception 'NSInvalidArgumentException' (reason '*** -[NSCFArray componentsSeparatedByString:]: unrecognized selector sent to instance 0x1a9010') was raised during a dragging session
2012-01-19 13:59:13.342 archiveDrop_cocoa[76758:10b] /Users/steve/Desktop/thinkstock/kidscolor57448860.jpg
2012-01-19 13:59:15.014 archiveDrop_cocoa[76758:10b] /Users/steve/Desktop/thinkstock/IVDrip76801701.jpg
2012-01-19 13:59:18.263 archiveDrop_cocoa[76758:10b] /Users/steve/Desktop/thinkstock/stk26719pin.jpg
2012-01-19 13:59:23.414 archiveDrop_cocoa[76758:10b] /Users/steve/Desktop/thinkstock/WomanLabtop78634274.jpg