Get currently typed word in a UITextView

Question

I want to get the currently typed word in a UITextView. A way to get a completely typed word can be found here UITEXTVIEW: Get the recent word typed in uitextvi

Answer 1

You can simply extend UITextView and use following method which returns the word around the current location of cursor:

extension UITextView {

    func editedWord() -> String {

        let cursorPosition = selectedRange.location
        let separationCharacters = NSCharacterSet(charactersInString: " ")

        // Count how many actual characters there are before the cursor.
        // Emojis/special characters can each increase selectedRange.location
        // by 2 instead of 1

        var unitCount = 0
        var characters = 0
        while unitCount < cursorPosition {

            let char = text.startIndex.advancedBy(characters)
            let int = text.rangeOfComposedCharacterSequenceAtIndex(char)
            unitCount = Int(String(int.endIndex))!
            characters += 1
        }


        let beginRange = Range(start: text.startIndex.advancedBy(0), end: text.startIndex.advancedBy(characters))
        let endRange = Range(start: text.startIndex.advancedBy(characters), end: text.startIndex.advancedBy(text.characters.count))

        let beginPhrase = text.substringWithRange(beginRange)
        let endPhrase = text.substringWithRange(endRange)

        let beginWords = beginPhrase.componentsSeparatedByCharactersInSet(separationCharacters)
        let endWords = endPhrase.componentsSeparatedByCharactersInSet(separationCharacters)

        return beginWords.last! + endWords.first!
    }
}