---
title: predicateFormat
framework: foundation
role: symbol
role_heading: Instance Property
path: foundation/nspredicate/predicateformat
---

# predicateFormat

The predicate’s format string.

## Declaration

```swift
var predicateFormat: String { get }
```

## Discussion

Discussion The return value of this property is not guaranteed to be the same as the string used to create the predicate using predicateWithFormat: or similar methods. You cannot use this method to create a persistent representation of a predicate suitable for recreating the original predicate. If you need a persistent representation of a predicate, create an archive instead, as described in Object archiving (NSPredicate adopts the NSCoding protocol).