Question

Wy does NSUserDefaults objectForKey method, returns a string with “0” and not nil?

Documentation states,

Return Value
The object associated with the specified key, or nil if the key was
not found.

NSDate * date = [[NSUserDefaults standardUserDefaults] objectForKey:OVERTIME_RATE_MARKER];

    if (date) {
      //something
    }

The conditional statement above, always executes, because if the object is not found, it’s returning an object of class: __NSCFString with “0”. When it should be returning “nil”

I can of course, test the string for “0”. But I don’t really want to do that.

I also tried to use ID for type. I keep getting a __NSCFString with “0”.

Can anyone help me figure this out?

Any help is appreciated!

Thank you

Answer 1

This API definitely returns nil when the key doesn’t exist. Either the key was already set in your preferences, or you’re setting it to @"0" somewhere else in your code before this code that reads it.