Swift: Extending functionality of print() function

Question

Is it possible to extend the functionality of a Swift function? I would like appnd a single character onto every print() function in my program without having to create a br

Answer 1

You can overshadow the print method from the standard library:

public func print(items: Any..., separator: String = " ", terminator: String = "\n") {
    let output = items.map { "*\($0)" }.joined(separator: separator)
    Swift.print(output, terminator: terminator)
}

Since the original function is in the standard library, its fully qualified name is Swift.print

Answer 2

This code working for me in swift 3

import Foundation

public func print(_ items: Any..., separator: String = " ", terminator: String = "\n") {
    let output = items.map { "\($0)" }.joined(separator: separator)
    Swift.print(output, terminator: terminator)
}

class YourViewController: UIViewController {
}

Answer 3

If we want to cover all cases with custom print we should create new file for example: CustomPrint.swift and then paste this two methods:

SWIFT 5.1

First (according to ThomasHaz answer)

public func print(_ items: String..., filename: String = #file, function : String = #function, line: Int = #line, separator: String = " ", terminator: String = "\n") {
    #if DEBUG
        let pretty = "\(URL(fileURLWithPath: filename).lastPathComponent) [#\(line)] \(function)\n\t-> "
        let output = items.map { "\($0)" }.joined(separator: separator)
        Swift.print(pretty+output, terminator: terminator)
    #else
        Swift.print("RELEASE MODE")
    #endif
}

and second because the first one does't cover dictionary and array printing

public func print(_ items: Any..., separator: String = " ", terminator: String = "\n") {
    #if DEBUG
        let output = items.map { "\($0)" }.joined(separator: separator)
        Swift.print(output, terminator: terminator)
    #else
        Swift.print("RELEASE MODE")
    #endif
}

Enjoy :)