how can I sort NSMutableDictionary with keys value?

Question

I have a NSMutableDictionary with string keys and every key has its own array. I want to re-sort the dictionary with keys value alphabetically. How can I do this?

Answer 1

A dictionary is unsorted by definition.

For iterating over the keys in a specific order, you can sort an array containing the keys of the dictionary.

NSArray *keys = [theDictionary allKeys];
NSArray *sortedKeys = [keys sortedArrayUsingSelector:@selector(compareMethod:)];

There are several other sorted... methods, e.g. sorting with a NSComparator. Have a look here.

Answer 2

Use this one

NSArray *myKeys = [Dict allKeys];
NSArray *sortedKeys = [myKeys sortedArrayUsingSelector:@selector(caseInsensitiveCompare:)];
NSMutableArray *sortedValues = [[[NSMutableArray alloc] init] autorelease];

for(id key in sortedKeys) {
    id object = [Dict objectForKey:key];
    [sortedValues addObject:object];
}

Answer 3

NSDictionary *yourDictionary;
NSArray *sortedKeys = [yourDictionary.allKeys sortedArrayUsingDescriptors:@[[NSSortDescriptor sortDescriptorWithKey:@"self" ascending:YES]]];
NSArray *sortedValues = [yourDictionary objectsForKeys:sortedKeys notFoundMarker:@""];