Error: Initializer for conditional binding must have optional type, not 'String' [duplicate]

Answer 1

First, let's consider what the if let construct means. When you write

if let name = firstName {
    print ("Hello, \(name)")
}

you tell Swift that you want to

1. Try unwrapping firstName
2. If the result of unwrapping is successful, assign the result of unwrapping to name
3. If the result of unwrapping is successful, print "Hello, \(name)"

In other words, this construct is for dealing with unwrapping of optional variables. However, variable firstName is not optional; there is nothing to unwrap, causing Swift to complain.

Answer 2

var firstName: String? = "John Appleseed"
if let name = firstName {
print ("Hello, \(name)")
}

add ? to make it optional.

check answer in this link to know where to use optional and what is actually it is

hope this will help :)