CODEWITHSUNDEEP
swiftoperators
Thor
Thor

Reputation: 10038

What does "??" stand for in the context of: let x = y ?? "Candy bar"

I'm new to Swift. Could someone please tell me what "??" stands for and what is its function in the context of

let snackName = favoriteSnacks[person] ?? "Candy bar"

I have included the complete code below: 

struct Item{
    var price: Int
    var count: Int
}

class VendingMachine {
    var inventory = [
    "Candy bar": Item(price: 12, count: 7),
    "Chips": Item(price: 10, count: 4),
    "Pretzels": Item(price: 7, count: 11)
    ]
    var coinsDeposited = 0
    func dispenseSnack(snack: String){
        print("dispensing \(snack)")
    }

    func vend(itemNamed name: String) throws {
        guard var item = inventory[name] else {
            throw VendingMachineError.InvalidSelection
        }

        guard item.count > 0 else {
            throw VendingMachineError.OutOfStock
        }

        guard item.price <= coinsDeposited else {
            throw VendingMachineError.InsufficientFunds(coinsNeeded: item.price - coinsDeposited)
        }

        coinsDeposited -= item.price
        --item.count
        inventory[name] = item
        dispenseSnack(name)
    }
}

let favoriteSnacks = [
    "Alice": "Chips",
    "Bob": "Licorice",
    "Eve": "Pretzels",
]

func buyFavoriteSnack(person: String, vendingMachine: VendingMachine) throws {
    let snackName = favoriteSnacks[person] ?? "Candy bar"
    try vendingMachine.vend(itemNamed: snackName)
}

Upvotes: 0

Views: 479

Answers (5)

Mahesh
Mahesh

Reputation: 1482

Simply explained,

let value = x ?? y

Is similar to writing, 

let value = x != nil ? x! : y

It checks if x contains nil, if it doesn't then it force unwraps it, otherwise returns y in the above case.

Upvotes: 0

Deepak Tagadiya
Deepak Tagadiya

Reputation: 2237

Ex. if you get only 5 keys and values in dictionary, but some time getting nil key or value, then error will be come for nil value. So, here solution for that, 

 var strName = jsonObjectName ?? "Unknown"
 var intAge = jsonObjectAge ?? 25

it means, if jsonObjectName is nil then automatically "Unknown" will be set to strName.

Note: default value provided by "?? value"

Upvotes: 0

Hitendra Solanki
Hitendra Solanki

Reputation: 4941

Its used to checking nil, if your value will be nil, you will assign default value.

let favoriteSnacks = [
    "Alice": "Chips",
    "Bob": "Licorice",
    "Eve": "Pretzels",
]

from your code,

suppose person = "Eve"

let snackName = favoriteSnacks["Eve"] ?? "Candy bar"

it will first try to find value from dictionary, i.e. favoriteSnacks["Eve"] will give you value "Pretzels".

so it will assign value Pretzels to snackName variable.

suppose person = "Allen"

let snackName = favoriteSnacks["Allen"] ?? "Candy bar"

it will first try to find value from dictionary, i.e. favoriteSnacks["Allen"] will give you value nil.

In this case it will assign defalut value "Candy bar" to your variable snackName.

Upvotes: 4

Timothy Pratley
Timothy Pratley

Reputation: 10662

Its the Nil Coalescing Operator basically giving a default for when the value does not exist.

see also Providing a default value for an Optional in Swift?

Upvotes: 2

alexandergs
alexandergs

Reputation: 192

Let me please assume here based on its meaning in other languages:

   let snackName = favoriteSnacks[person] ?? "Candy bar"

?? checks if the value of favoriteSnacks[person] is null. If it is NOT then the value of favoriteSnacks[person] will be assigned to snackName. If the value of favoriteSnacks[person] is null then "Candy bar" will be assigned to snackName.

It is used for having a default value in case favoriteSnacks[person] comes null.

Upvotes: 2

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