Swift: shortcut unwrapping of array of optionals

Question

Assume we have an array of optionals defined:

var arrayOfOptionals: [String?] = [\"Seems\", \"like\", \"an\", nil, \"of\", \"optionals\"]

I

Answer 1

I took @Cenny's answer and decided to make an operator out of it:

prefix operator  {}

prefix func  (array: [T?]) -> [T] {
  return array.filter{ $0 != nil }.map{ $0! }
}

I'm using it to parse an array of JSON objects and filter the ones that failed:

static func parse(j: JSONArray) -> [Agency]? {
  return j.map { self.parse($0) }
}

Update for Swift 2+:
Use flatMap operator and it'll only return non-nil objects