How to use an array in an if statement - arrays

Question

I am writing the following code including two if statements in swift 5, where I am splitting a sentence into an array including words and punctuations (How to split a sentence into words as well as punctuations and spaces? [Swift]).
As I use similar if statements a lot, it is getting annoying to modify one by one. Is there any way I can make it easier to modify if necessary? (for example by using an array)
The array I am thinking about looks as follows (please pretend that this includes the same characters in the first and the second if-statements in the code..):
let characterToStartNewWord: [String] = [" ","(",")","-", "—", "`", "‘", "/", "*","”", "[", "]", "—", "“", ":", ";", "!", "?"]
code
func sentenceSplitter(text_input: String) -> [String] {
// delete "- "
let text: String = text_input.replacingOccurrences(of: "- ", with: "")
var list = [String]()
let characterToStartNewWord: [String] = [" ","(",")","-", "—", "`", "‘", "/", "*","”", "[", "]", "—", "“"]
var currentSubString = "";
text.enumerateSubstrings(in: text.startIndex..<text.endIndex, options: String.EnumerationOptions.byComposedCharacterSequences) { (substring, substringRange, enclosingRange, value) in
if let _subString = substring {
if (!currentSubString.isEmpty &&
(_subString.compare(" ") == .orderedSame
|| _subString.compare(",") == .orderedSame
|| _subString.compare(".") == .orderedSame
|| _subString.compare(";") == .orderedSame
|| _subString.compare("!") == .orderedSame
|| _subString.compare("?") == .orderedSame
|| _subString.compare(":") == .orderedSame
|| _subString.compare("(") == .orderedSame
|| _subString.compare(")") == .orderedSame
|| _subString.compare("-") == .orderedSame
|| _subString.compare("“") == .orderedSame
|| _subString.compare("*") == .orderedSame
|| _subString.compare("/") == .orderedSame
|| _subString.compare("[") == .orderedSame
|| _subString.compare("]") == .orderedSame
|| _subString.compare("—") == .orderedSame
|| _subString.compare("‘") == .orderedSame
|| _subString.compare("`") == .orderedSame
)
) {
//create word if see any of those character and currentSubString is not empty
list.append(currentSubString)
if _subString == " " {
list.append(_subString)
}
currentSubString = _subString.trimmingCharacters(in: CharacterSet.whitespaces)
characterToStartNewWord.forEach{
if _subString == $0 && _subString != " " {
list.append(_subString)
currentSubString = currentSubString.trimmingCharacters(in: CharacterSet(charactersIn: $0))
}
}
} else {
if (
_subString.compare(" ") != .orderedSame &&
_subString.compare("(") != .orderedSame &&
_subString.compare(")") != .orderedSame &&
_subString.compare("-") != .orderedSame &&
_subString.compare("*") != .orderedSame &&
_subString.compare("”") != .orderedSame &&
_subString.compare("—") != .orderedSame &&
_subString.compare("`") != .orderedSame &&
_subString.compare("‘") != .orderedSame &&
_subString.compare("/") != .orderedSame &&
_subString.compare("[") != .orderedSame &&
_subString.compare("]") != .orderedSame &&
_subString.compare("—") != .orderedSame &&
_subString.compare("‘") != .orderedSame &&
_subString.compare("`") != .orderedSame)
{
currentSubString += _subString
} else {
characterToStartNewWord.forEach{
if _subString == $0 {
list.append(_subString)
}
}
}
}
}
}
//last word
if (!currentSubString.isEmpty) {
list.append(currentSubString)
}
return list
}

Answer 1

No need to use an array. You can simply use a string (collection of characters) to initialize a set and check if it contains or not a character:
let characters = Set(#",;:!?()-*”—`‘/[]—"#)
if characters.contains(char) {
// code
}
If you just need to check if a string starts or not with one of those characters:
let string = "[Test]"
if let first = string.first, characters.contains(first) {
print(true)
}
edit/update:
In your case (I have not tested the code below):
func sentenceSplitter(text_input: String) -> [String] {
let text = text_input.replacingOccurrences(of: "- ", with: "")
var list = [String]()
let characterToStartNewWord = Set(#" ()-—`‘/*”[]—"#)
var currentSubString = ""
text.enumerateSubstrings(
in: text.startIndex...,
options: .byComposedCharacterSequences
) { substring, substringRange, enclosingRange, stop in
if let subString = substring {
if currentSubString.count == 1,
characterToStartNewWord.contains(subString[subString.startIndex]) {
list.append(currentSubString)
if subString == " " { list.append(subString) }
currentSubString = subString.trimmingCharacters(in: .whitespaces)
characterToStartNewWord.forEach {
if subString == String($0),
subString != " " {
list.append(subString)
currentSubString = currentSubString.trimmingCharacters(in: CharacterSet(charactersIn: String($0)))
}
}
} else {
let charSet = Set(" ()-*”—‘/[]—`")
if subString.count == 1, !charSet.contains(subString[subString.startIndex]) {
currentSubString += subString
} else {
characterToStartNewWord.forEach {
if subString == String($0) {
list.append(subString)
}
}
}
}
}
}
}