How do I check if a string contains another string in Objective-C?

Question

How can I check if a string (NSString) contains another smaller string?

I was hoping for something like:

NSString *string = @\"hello bla         


        

Answer 1

An improved version of P i's solution, a category on NSString, that not only will tell, if a string is found within another string, but also takes a range by reference, is:

@interface NSString (Contains)
-(BOOL)containsString: (NSString*)substring
              atRange:(NSRange*)range;

-(BOOL)containsString:(NSString *)substring;
@end

@implementation NSString (Contains)

-(BOOL)containsString:(NSString *)substring
              atRange:(NSRange *)range{

    NSRange r = [self rangeOfString : substring];
    BOOL found = ( r.location != NSNotFound );
    if (range != NULL) *range = r;
    return found;
}

-(BOOL)containsString:(NSString *)substring
{
    return [self containsString:substring
                        atRange:NULL];
}

@end

Use it like:

NSString *string = @"Hello, World!";

//If you only want to ensure a string contains a certain substring
if ([string containsString:@"ello" atRange:NULL]) {
    NSLog(@"YES");
}

// Or simply
if ([string containsString:@"ello"]) {
    NSLog(@"YES");
}

//If you also want to know substring's range
NSRange range;
if ([string containsString:@"ello" atRange:&range]) {
    NSLog(@"%@", NSStringFromRange(range));
}