How do I convert NSMutableArray to NSArray?
NSArray *array = [mutableArray copy];
Copy
makes immutable copies. This is quite useful because Apple can make various optimizations. For example sending copy
to a immutable array only retains the object and returns self
.
If you don't use garbage collection or ARC remember that -copy
retains the object.
An NSMutableArray
is a subclass of NSArray
so you won't always need to convert but if you want to make sure that the array can't be modified you can create a NSArray
either of these ways depending on whether you want it autoreleased or not:
/* Not autoreleased */NSArray *array = [[NSArray alloc] initWithArray:mutableArray];/* Autoreleased array */NSArray *array = [NSArray arrayWithArray:mutableArray];
EDIT: The solution provided by Georg Schölly is a better way of doing it and a lot cleaner, especially now that we have ARC and don't even have to call autorelease.
I like both of the 2 main solutions:
NSArray *array = [NSArray arrayWithArray:mutableArray];
Or
NSArray *array = [mutableArray copy];
The primary difference I see in them is how they behave when mutableArray is nil:
NSMutableArray *mutableArray = nil;NSArray *array = [NSArray arrayWithArray:mutableArray];// array == @[] (empty array)NSMutableArray *mutableArray = nil;NSArray *array = [mutableArray copy];// array == nil