Swift Array min()

var numbers = [9, 34, 11, -4, 27]

// find the smallest number
print(numbers.min()!)

// Output: -4

min() Syntax

The syntax of the array min() method is:

array.min()

Here, array is an object of the Array class.

min() Parameters

The min() method doesn't take any parameters.

min() Return Values

• returns the minimum element from the array

Note: The min() method returns an optional value, so we need to unwrap it. There are different techniques to unwrap optionals. To learn more about optionals, visit Swift Optionals.

Example 1: Swift Array min()

// create an array of integers
var integers = [2, 4, 6, 8, 10]

// create an array of floating-point number
var decimals = [1.2, 3.4, 7.5, 9.6]

// find the smallest element in integers array
print(integers.min())

// find the smallest element in decimals array 
print(decimals.min()!)

Output

Optional(2)
1.2

In the above example, we have created two arrays named integers and decimals. Notice the following:

• integers.min() - since we have not unwrapped the optional, the method returns Optional(2)

• decimals.min()! - since we have used ! to force unwrap the optional, the method returns 1.2.

To learn more about forced unwrapping, visit Optional Forced Unwrapping.

Example 2: Find Smallest String Using min()

var languages = ["Swift", "Python", "Java"]

// find the smallest string
print(languages.min()!)

Output

Java

Here, the elements in the languages array are strings, so the min() method returns the smallest element (alphabetically).