<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=us-ascii"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><br class=""><div><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div class="">On Aug 4, 2016, at 11:32 AM, Daniel Tartaglia via swift-users <<a href="mailto:swift-users@swift.org" class="">swift-users@swift.org</a>> wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><div class=""><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=us-ascii" class=""><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><font face="Menlo" class="">Currently I do stuff like this:</font><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; font-family: Menlo;" class=""><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #bb2ca2" class="">let</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class=""> dobString: </span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #703daa" class="">String</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #bb2ca2" class="">if</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class=""> </span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #bb2ca2" class="">let</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class=""> dob = dob {</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>dobString = </span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #4f8187" class="">serverDateFormatter</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class="">.</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #3d1d81" class="">stringFromDate</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class="">(dob)</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class="">}</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(187, 44, 162);" class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class="">else</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures;" class=""> {</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>dobString = </span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #d12f1b" class="">""</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class="">}</span></div><div class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class=""><br class=""></span></div><div class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class="">Is there a better, more idiomatic, way to do this sort of thing?</span></div></div></div></div></div></blockquote><br class=""></div><div>So if I understand this correctly `dob` is an optional date, and `dobString` is a non-optional String. Right? </div><div><br class=""></div><div>If that's what you're dealing with, then you basically to do a double conditional: dob is optional, and stringFromDate returns optional, right? I'd do it like this:</div><div><br class=""></div><div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal; font-family: Menlo;" class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #bb2ca2" class="">let</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class=""> dobString: </span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #703daa" class="">String</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class=""> = {</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal; font-family: Menlo; color: rgb(187, 44, 162);" class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #000000" class=""> </span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class="">guard</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal; font-family: Menlo;" class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class=""> </span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #bb2ca2" class="">let</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class=""> dob = </span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #4f8187" class="">dob</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class="">,</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal; font-family: Menlo;" class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class=""> </span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #bb2ca2" class="">let</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class=""> dobString = </span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #4f8187" class="">serverDateFormatter</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class="">.</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #3d1d81" class="">stringFromDate</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class="">(dob)</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal; font-family: Menlo;" class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class=""> </span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #bb2ca2" class="">else</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class=""> { </span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #bb2ca2" class="">return</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class=""> </span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #d12f1b" class="">""</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class=""> }</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal; font-family: Menlo;" class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class=""> </span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #bb2ca2" class="">return</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class=""> dobString</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal; font-family: Menlo;" class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class="">}()</span></div></div><div><br class=""></div><div>But if serverDateFormatter is actually a NSDateFormatter instance, which does not return optionals, then you'd want to go with:</div><div><br class=""></div><div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal; font-family: Menlo;" class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #bb2ca2" class="">let</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class=""> dobString: </span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #703daa" class="">String</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class=""> = {</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal; font-family: Menlo;" class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class=""> </span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #bb2ca2" class="">guard</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class=""> </span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #bb2ca2" class="">let</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class=""> dob = </span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #4f8187" class="">dob</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class=""> </span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #bb2ca2" class="">else</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class=""> { </span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #bb2ca2" class="">return</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class=""> </span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #d12f1b" class="">""</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class=""> }</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal; font-family: Menlo; color: rgb(79, 129, 135);" class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #000000" class=""> </span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #bb2ca2" class="">return</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #000000" class=""> </span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class="">serverDateFormatter</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #000000" class="">.</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #3d1d81" class="">string</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #000000" class="">(from:dob)</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal; font-family: Menlo;" class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class="">}()</span></div><div class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class=""><br class=""></span></div></div><div>-- E</div></body></html>