What is array.max() in Swift?

Overview

The array.max() is used to get the largest element in an array.

Syntax

arr.max()

Parameters

The function takes no parameters.

Return value

It returns the largest element in the array. If the array has no elements, a nil is returned.

Example

Let’s look at the code below:

// creating arrays
let evenNumbers = [2, 10, 4, 12, 6, 8]
let negativeNumbers = [-1.3, -0.5, 0.002, 4.5]
let decimalNumbers = [45.7, 44.2, 90.0, 23.3]
let emptyArray = [Int]() //empty array
// getting maximum elements
let maxEvenNo = evenNumbers.max()!
let maxNegNo = negativeNumbers.max()!
let maxDecNo = decimalNumbers.max()!
let emptyElement = emptyArray.max()
// printing results
print(maxEvenNo)  // 12
print(maxNegNo)   // 4.5
print(maxDecNo)   // 90.0
print(emptyElement) // nil

Explanation

  • Lines 2 to 5: We create three separate arrays.
  • Lines 8 to 11: We invoke the max() method on each of the arrays and the results are stored in separate variables.
  • Lines 14 to 17: We print the results to the console.

Note: For an empty array, the max() function returns a nil and throws an error.

max(by:)

max(by:) method is similar to the max() method. The only difference is that it finds the maximum element based on a predicate or a condition.

Example

Let’s look at the code example:

// create a sequence
let ages = ["Mark" : 15, "John" : 20, "Jane" : 40]
// get maximum element using max(by:)
let keyMaxElement = ages.max(by: { 
    $0 > $1
})
// print result
print(keyMaxElement!)

Explanation

  • Line 2: We create a sequence with the name ages.

  • Lines 6 to 7: We write a predicate to get the maximum element greater than all other elements. Here, the greatest key value is 40.

  • Line 11: The result is printed.

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