Swift extension that adds convenient regex methods to String. Forked from ningsuhen & cleaned up for Swift 2.0

Regex.swift

import Foundation

struct Regex {
    var pattern: String {
        didSet { updateRegex() }
    }
    var expressionOptions: NSRegularExpressionOptions {
        didSet { updateRegex() }
    }
    var matchingOptions: NSMatchingOptions
    
    var regex: NSRegularExpression?
    
    init(pattern: String, expressionOptions: NSRegularExpressionOptions, matchingOptions: NSMatchingOptions) {
        self.pattern = pattern
        self.expressionOptions = expressionOptions
        self.matchingOptions = matchingOptions
        updateRegex()
    }
    
    init(pattern: String) {
        self.init(pattern: pattern, expressionOptions: [], matchingOptions: [])
    }
    
    mutating func updateRegex() {
        regex = try? NSRegularExpression(pattern: pattern, options: expressionOptions)
    }
}


extension String {
    func getMatches(pattern: Regex) -> [NSTextCheckingResult] {
        guard let regex = pattern.regex else { return [] }
        let range: NSRange = NSMakeRange(0, characters.count)
        return regex.matchesInString(self, options: pattern.matchingOptions, range: range)
    }
    
    func getMatches(pattern: String) -> [NSTextCheckingResult] {
        return getMatches(Regex(pattern: pattern))
    }
    
    func match(pattern: Regex) -> Bool {
        return !getMatches(pattern).isEmpty
    }
    
    func match(patternString: String) -> Bool {
        return self.match(Regex(pattern: patternString))
    }
    
    func replace(pattern: Regex, with template: String) -> String {
        guard let regex = pattern.regex else { return self }
        let range: NSRange = NSMakeRange(0, characters.count)
        return regex.stringByReplacingMatchesInString(self, options: pattern.matchingOptions, range: range, withTemplate: template)
    }
    
    func replace(pattern: String, with template: String) -> String {
        return self.replace(Regex(pattern: pattern), with: template)
    }
}
/*
//e.g. replaces symbols +, -, space, ( & ) from phone numbers
"+91-999-929-5395".replace("[-\\s\\(\\)]", template: "")
*/