error in array cleaning method - iphone

Question

I am attempting to use this array cleaning method, and there seems to be an error. I can't spot it, I know the array goes in with 3116 items, comes out with 3116 (and I know for a fact there are three duplicates.
Please advice, thanks!
-(NSArray*) removeDuplicates:(NSArray*)inputArray{
NSMutableArray *arrayToClean = [NSMutableArray arrayWithArray:inputArray];
for (int i =0; i<[arrayToClean count]; i++) {
for (int j=(i+1); j < [arrayToClean count]; j++) {
if ([[arrayToClean objectAtIndex:i] isEqual:[arrayToClean
objectAtIndex:j]]) {
[arrayToClean removeObjectAtIndex:j];
j--;
}
}
}
NSArray *arrayToReturn = [NSArray arrayWithArray:arrayToClean];
return arrayToReturn;
}

Answer 1

NSSet will make this a lot easier:
-(NSArray *)removeDuplicates:(NSArray *)inputArray {
NSSet *unique = [NSSet setWithArray:inputArray];
return [unique allObjects];
}
Please note that a set has no guaranteed order. If you need the objects in the array to be in a specific order then you should sort the resulting array as needed.
It may also be appropriate to use an NSSet instead of the original array, then you don't need to worry about duplicates at all. But this depends on the other needs of your array.

Answer 2

Hey You can use another alternative for this.You can use the NSSet here for this task.
NSSet declares the programmatic interface for static sets of distinct objects
You can use sets as an alternative to arrays when the order of elements isn’t important and performance in testing whether an object is contained in the set is a consideration—while arrays are ordered, testing for membership is slower than with sets.
You Just need To call below method.
-(NSArray *)removeDuplicates:(NSArray *)inputArray {
NSSet *finalData = [NSSet setWithArray:inputArray];
return [finalData allObjects];
}
If really face any problem in above way of cleaning ducplicates then you can try another Alterantive.
-(NSArray *)removeDuplicates:(NSArray *)inputArray {
NSMutableArray *inputArray1=[NSMutableArray arrayWithArray:inputArray];
NSMutableArray *finalARray=[[NSMutableArray alloc]init];
for (id obj in inputArray1)
{
if (![finalARray containsObject:obj])
{
[finalARray addObject: obj];
}
NSLog(#"new array is %#",finalARray);
}
return finalARray;
}
I hope it may help you ...

Answer 3

Here is a helper function I had in a previous project to do the exact same thing
- (NSMutableArray *)removeDuplicates:(NSMutableArray *)sortedArray{
NSMutableSet* valuesAdded = [NSMutableSet set];
NSMutableArray* filteredArray = [[NSMutableArray alloc] init];
NSString* object;
/* Iterate over the array checking if the value is a member of the set. If its not add it
* to the set and to the returning array. If the value is already a member, skip over it.
*/
for (object in sortedArray){
if (![valuesAdded member:object]){
[valuesAdded addObject:object];
[filteredArray addObject:object];
}
}
return filteredArray;
}