When not to alloc and init an NSString

Question

Whenever I need to create a new NSString variable I always alloc and init it. It seems that there are times when you don\'t want to do this. How do you know when to alloc an

Answer 1

It seems that there are times when you don't want to do this.

I can't think of any time when I would want to alloc/init a NSString. Since NSStringgs are immutable, you pretty much always create new strings by one of:

• convenience class method e.g.

  NSString* foo = [NSString stringWithFormat:...];
  

• literal

  NSString* foo = @"literal";
  

• NSString instance method

  NSString* foo = [bar uppercaseString];
  

• copy from mutable string

  NSString* foo = [mutableBar copy];  // foo needs to be released or autoreleased in this case