debugging - Is there a way to use tabs to evenly space out description strings in Swift? -

overriding description variable of custom class:

override var description : string {         let mirrored_object = mirror(reflecting: self)         let str:nsmutablestring = nsmutablestring()         (index, attr) in mirrored_object.children.enumerated() {             if let property_name = attr.label string! {                 //str.append(" attr \(index): \(property_name) = \(attr.value)\n")                 str.append("\t\(property_name) = \t\t\(attr.value)\n")             }         }         return str string     } 

produces output looks like:

userid =        optional(0) username =          optional("testuser") email =         optional("test@gmail.com") 

is there way set tabs in output attribute values line nicely this?

userid =        optional(0) username =      optional("testuser") email =         optional("test@gmail.com") 

also, there way rid of or shorten "optional" part , show value?

i wouldn't use tabs use padding(...):

var description : string {     let mirrored_object = mirror(reflecting: self)     let childrenwithlabel = mirrored_object.children.filter { $0.label != nil }     let maxlen = childrenwithlabel.map { int($0.label!.characters.count) }.max() ?? 0     let lines = childrenwithlabel.map { $0.label!.padding(tolength: maxlen, withpad: " ", startingat: 0) + " = \($0.value)" }     return lines.joined(separator: "\n") } 

for struct like

struct foo: customstringconvertible {     let userid = 42     let username = "foo"     let verylongpropertyname: string? = "bar" } 

this produces

userid               = 42 username             = foo verylongpropertyname = optional("bar") 

as "optional" part, it's not easy totig suggests because value mirror of type any. see this question.

update

i overlooked wanted have different format.

var description : string {     let mirrored_object = mirror(reflecting: self)     let childrenwithlabel = mirrored_object.children.filter { $0.label != nil }     let separator = " = "     let firstcolumnwidth = (childrenwithlabel.map { int($0.label!.characters.count) }.max() ?? 0) + separator.characters.count     let lines = childrenwithlabel.map {         ($0.label! + separator).padding(tolength: firstcolumnwidth, withpad: " ", startingat: 0) + "\($0.value)"     } } 

produces

userid =               42 username =             foo verylongpropertyname = optional("bar") 

update 2

to rid of "optional" thing, please see my answer here.

if use (from said answer) unwrap() or unwrapusingprotocol() in description this:

var description : string {     let mirrored_object = mirror(reflecting: self)     let childrenwithlabel = mirrored_object.children.filter { $0.label != nil }     let separator = " = "     let firstcolumnwidth = (childrenwithlabel.map { int($0.label!.characters.count) }.max() ?? 0) + separator.characters.count     let lines = childrenwithlabel.map {         ($0.label! + separator).padding(tolength: firstcolumnwidth, withpad: " ", startingat: 0) + "\(unwrap($0.value))"     }     return lines.joined(separator: "\n") } 

this produce

userid =               42 username =             foo verylongpropertyname = bar