How do I refactor Swift in Xcode?

Question

Is there a way to refactor swift in Xcode 7.1?

When I try to rename a variable (e.g. highlight, right-click, refactor > rename), Xcode pops up an error dialog sayi

Answer 1

AFAIK the refactoring is not working with Swift right now, however, at least in the same file(scope), you can do the following:

Answer 2

The lack of refactoring is astounding (especially as I am coming off of a major stint using VS) However I have just noticed that someone has done something about it. On GitHub there is Refactorator Xcode Plugin (MIT license) which claims:

Refactorator is an Xcode plugin for refactoring Swift & now Objective-C code. It will rename public or internal vars, functions, enums etc. For private and local entities use Xcode's existing "Edit All in Scope" functionality.

Full disclosure is that I have nothing to do with them and am just about to install the product myself.

Answer 3

Xcode 9 - 10

Xcode 9 now supports refactoring in Swift. This was announced in WWDC 2017.

Answer 4

As of Xcode 7.2 beta the refactoring tools do not support Swift.

What I do is use the type checker. Change the name/type of something and then fix all the compile breakages. Because of the strong typing you can have more confidence that this approach will catch everything. I have at times deliberately changed things and broken them temporarily to check where objects or types are used or accessed from.

Or use AppCode for the refactoring, I hear it is good but haven't tried much myself.