what is the usage of "~>" in cocoapods

Question

I want to know what the "~>" is used for,cause I find they are the same below:

pod 'AFNetworking','~> 2.0.3'

pod 'AFNetworking','2.0.3'

Answer 1

Well, ~> (the optimistic operator) is used when you want to specify a version 'up to next major | minor | patch'. For example:

~> 0.1.2 will get you a version up to 0.2 (but not including 0.2 and higher)

~> 0.1 will get you a version up to 1.0 (but not including 1.0 and higher)

~> 0 will get you a version of 0 and higher (same as if it was omitted)

where 0.1.2 would mean 'I want this exact version'

Here is some more info on this