NSCharacterSet letterCharacterSet example in Objective C (iOS).

NSCharacterSet letterCharacterSet

Returns a character set containing the characters in the categories Letters and Marks.

+ (id)letterCharacterSet

Return Value
A character set containing the characters in the categories Letters and Marks.

Discussion of [NSCharacterSet letterCharacterSet]
Informally, this set is the set of all characters used as letters of alphabets and ideographs.

NSCharacterSet letterCharacterSet example.

NSMutableCharacterSet *mcs = [[[NSCharacterSet letterCharacterSet] invertedSet] mutableCopy];
[mcs removeCharactersInString:@"<characters you want excluded>"];

myString = [[myString componentsSeparatedByCharactersInSet:mcs] componentsJoinedByString:@""];

[mcs release];

Example of [NSCharacterSet letterCharacterSet].

@interface StringCategoryTest : GHTestCase
@end

@implementation StringCategoryTest

- (void)testStringByTrimmingLeadingCharactersInSet {
    NSCharacterSet *letterCharSet = [NSCharacterSet letterCharacterSet];
    GHAssertEqualObjects([@"zip90210zip" stringByTrimmingLeadingCharactersInSet:letterCharSet], @"90210zip", nil);
}

- (void)testStringByTrimmingLeadingWhitespaceAndNewlineCharacters {
    GHAssertEqualObjects([@"" stringByTrimmingLeadingWhitespaceAndNewlineCharacters], @"", nil);
    GHAssertEqualObjects([@"\n \n " stringByTrimmingLeadingWhitespaceAndNewlineCharacters], @"", nil);
    GHAssertEqualObjects([@"\n hello \n" stringByTrimmingLeadingWhitespaceAndNewlineCharacters], @"hello \n", nil);
}

- (void)testStringByTrimmingTrailingCharactersInSet {
    NSCharacterSet *letterCharSet = [NSCharacterSet letterCharacterSet];
    GHAssertEqualObjects([@"zip90210zip" stringByTrimmingTrailingCharactersInSet:letterCharSet], @"zip90210", nil);
}

- (void)testStringByTrimmingTrailingWhitespaceAndNewlineCharacters {
    GHAssertEqualObjects([@"" stringByTrimmingLeadingWhitespaceAndNewlineCharacters], @"", nil);
    GHAssertEqualObjects([@"\n \n " stringByTrimmingLeadingWhitespaceAndNewlineCharacters], @"", nil);
    GHAssertEqualObjects([@"\n hello \n" stringByTrimmingTrailingWhitespaceAndNewlineCharacters], @"\n hello", nil);
}

@end

NSCharacterSet letterCharacterSet example.

// The input text
NSString *text = @"BûvérÈ!@$&%^&(*^(_()-*/48";

// Defining what characters to accept
NSMutableCharacterSet *acceptedCharacters = [[NSMutableCharacterSet alloc] init];
[acceptedCharacters formUnionWithCharacterSet:[NSCharacterSet letterCharacterSet]];
[acceptedCharacters formUnionWithCharacterSet:[NSCharacterSet decimalDigitCharacterSet]];
[acceptedCharacters addCharactersInString:@" _-.!"];

// Turn accented letters into normal letters (optional)
NSData *sanitizedData = [text dataUsingEncoding:NSASCIIStringEncoding allowLossyConversion:YES];
// Corrected back-conversion from NSData to NSString
NSString *sanitizedText = [[[NSString alloc] initWithData:sanitizedData encoding:NSASCIIStringEncoding] autorelease];

// Removing unaccepted characters
NSString* output = [[sanitizedText componentsSeparatedByCharactersInSet:[acceptedCharacters invertedSet]] componentsJoinedByString:@""];

End of NSCharacterSet letterCharacterSet example article.