Extension for a Combine-Publisher that returns the current and previous value.

Combine+Pairwise.swift

//
//  Combine+Pairwise.swift
//
//  Created by Felix Mau on 17.05.21.
//  Copyright © 2021 Felix Mau. All rights reserved.
//

import Combine

extension Publisher {

    typealias Pairwise<T> = (previous: T?, current: T)

    /// Includes the current element as well as the previous element from the upstream publisher in a tuple where the previous element is optional.
    /// The first time the upstream publisher emits an element, the previous element will be `nil`.
    ///
    /// ```
    /// let range = (1...5)
    /// let subscription = range.publisher
    ///   .pairwise()
    ///   .sink { print("(\($0.previous), \($0.current))", terminator: " ") }
    /// ```
    /// Prints: "(nil, 1) (Optional(1), 2) (Optional(2), 3) (Optional(3), 4) (Optional(4), 5)".
    ///
    /// - Returns: A publisher of a tuple of the previous and current elements from the upstream publisher.
    ///
    /// - Note: Based on <https://stackoverflow.com/a/67133582/3532505>.
    func pairwise() -> AnyPublisher<Pairwise<Output>, Failure> {
        // `scan()` needs an initial value, which is `nil` in our case.
        // Therefore we have to return an optional here and use `compactMap()` below the remove the optional type.
        scan(nil) { previousPair, currentElement -> Pairwise<Output>? in
            Pairwise(previous: previousPair?.current, current: currentElement)
        }
        .compactMap { $0 }
        .eraseToAnyPublisher()
    }
}

Related test case:

class PairwiseTestCase: XCTestCase {

    func testPairwise() {
        // Given
        // We can't conform a tuple to `Equatable`, therefore we map the tuples to a struct.
        // We also can't define a struct in a protocol extension, therefore we used a `typealias` in the implementation.
        struct Pairwise<T: Equatable>: Equatable {
            let previous: T?
            let current: T
        }

        var receivedPairs = [Pairwise<Int>]()

        let range = 1 ... 5
        var subscriptions = Set<AnyCancellable>()

        // When
        range.publisher
            .pairwise()
            .sink {
                receivedPairs.append(Pairwise(previous: $0.previous, current: $0.current))
            }
            .store(in: &subscriptions)

        // Then
        XCTAssertEqual(receivedPairs, [
            Pairwise(previous: nil, current: 1),
            Pairwise(previous: 1, current: 2),
            Pairwise(previous: 2, current: 3),
            Pairwise(previous: 3, current: 4),
            Pairwise(previous: 4, current: 5),
        ])
    }
}

Amazing!! Thank you so much for this 🙌