Can I force NSExpression and expressionValue to assume Doubles instead of Ints somehow?

Question

I\'m trying to do math from a string.

When I turn a string into a math problem with NSExpression, and then get the result with expressionValue, Swift assumes I want

Answer 1

You might be better off using a 3rd party expression parser/evaluator, such as DDMathParser. NSExpression is quite limited, and has no options to force floating point evaluation.

If you want to (or have to) stick to NSExpression: Here is a possible solution to (recursively) replace all constant values in an expression by their floating point value:

extension NSExpression {

    func toFloatingPoint() -> NSExpression {
        switch expressionType {
        case .constantValue:
            if let value = constantValue as? NSNumber {
                return NSExpression(forConstantValue: NSNumber(value: value.doubleValue))
            }
        case .function:
           let newArgs = arguments.map { $0.map { $0.toFloatingPoint() } }
           return NSExpression(forFunction: operand, selectorName: function, arguments: newArgs)
        case .conditional:
           return NSExpression(forConditional: predicate, trueExpression: self.true.toFloatingPoint(), falseExpression: self.false.toFloatingPoint())
        case .unionSet:
            return NSExpression(forUnionSet: left.toFloatingPoint(), with: right.toFloatingPoint())
        case .intersectSet:
            return NSExpression(forIntersectSet: left.toFloatingPoint(), with: right.toFloatingPoint())
        case .minusSet:
            return NSExpression(forMinusSet: left.toFloatingPoint(), with: right.toFloatingPoint())
        case .subquery:
            if let subQuery = collection as? NSExpression {
                return NSExpression(forSubquery: subQuery.toFloatingPoint(), usingIteratorVariable: variable, predicate: predicate)
            }
        case .aggregate:
            if let subExpressions = collection as? [NSExpression] {
                return NSExpression(forAggregate: subExpressions.map { $0.toFloatingPoint() })
            }
        case .anyKey:
            fatalError("anyKey not yet implemented")
        case .block:
            fatalError("block not yet implemented")
        case .evaluatedObject, .variable, .keyPath:
            break // Nothing to do here
        }
        return self
    }
}

Example:

let expression = NSExpression(format: "10/6+3/4")
if let result = expression.toFloatingPoint().expressionValue(with: nil, context: nil) as? Double {
    print("result:", result) // 2.41666666666667
}

This works with "simple" expressions using arithmetic operators and functions and some "advanced" expression types (unions, intersections, ...). The remaining conversions can be added if necessary.