How can I tell if a string is an URL or a local path?

Question

I'm given a string. It will either be a local path to a file that exists or a fully qualified remote https url ending in a file component.

If it is a local path I want to use NSURL(fileURLWithPath: String).
If it is an URL, I want to use NSURL(string: String).

What is the simplest / most reliable way to decide which to use?

possible duplicate of http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3057588/check-if-nsurl-is-local-file — mahal tertin, Sep 27 '16 at 08:44
That alleged duplicate is how to check an NSURL, not a string. — i_am_jorf, Sep 27 '16 at 22:32

score 6 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 26 '16 at 21:29

6

A local file path string will always start with / assuming it is a full path (which it should be).

A remote https URL will start with https://

Simply check which prefix the string has.

answered Sep 26 '16 at 21:29

rmaddy

What about `NSString isAbsolutePath`? I can't figure out how to call that from swift though. – i_am_jorf Sep 26 '16 at 21:30
`isAbsolutePath` is really just going to see if the string starts with `/`. – rmaddy Sep 26 '16 at 21:32
Fair enough. Thanks. – i_am_jorf Sep 26 '16 at 21:33

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