In Objective C, can I somehow build up a reference to a mutable array of NSStrings?

I'm learning Objective-C. I would like to create a lot of mutable arrays of NSStrings with names like a5 and c11 etc. The first would be an array of 5-letter words all beginning with a, the second an array of 11-letter words all beginning with c and so on. The idea is to speed up searches as the number of entries becomes very large. I can easily build up the name of an array as a string using a couple of nested loops and by examining the length of the word I want to enter and its first letter.

But if I do build a string "a5" how do I get from there to sending a message [a5 message]

Also, is there a way I can first declare the arrays in my ArrayManager class wit开发者_如何学Pythonhout painstakingly typing in all the individual array declarations (26*15 arrays)?

Thanks if anyone can help.

Steve Hill

I don't know if there is a way to synthesize an NSArray name in Objective-C (and I doubt it, actually), but I would suggest you an alternative approach.

You could use an NSMutableDictionary to collect all of your arrays. The keys in the dictionary would be: a5, c11, etc.

You would add a new array to the dictionary like this:

NSMutableDictionary allArrays = [[NSMutableDictionary alloc] init];
NSString* arrayName = @"...";
NSMutableArray* words = ...
[dict setObject:words forKey:arrayName];
....
....
[self doSomething:[dict objectForKey:@"a5"]]; //-- here you would access the array

Say that instead of your arrays having symbolic names at the Objective-C level, they have names that are meaningful to your program and that allow you to use them.

You can't do it directly because the variable name "a5" does not have any meaning outside of your source code. Once it is compiled, it's just an address.

I would use a dictionary, like this:

 NSMutableDictionary* index = [[NSMutableDictionary alloc] init];

 for (char letter = 'a' ; letter <= 'z' ; ++letter)
 {
     for (int length = 1 ; length <= 15 ; ++length)
     {
         NSString* key = [NSString stringWithFormat: @"%c%02d", letter, length]; // lengths are padded in case sorting is needed
         [index setObject: [NSMutableArray array] forKey: key];
     }
 }

That pre-creates all your arrays for all letter number combinations. To use a particular array:

[[index objectForKey: @"a08"] addObject: @"aardvark"];

Of course, you'd wrap all of this in a class in real life.