How to Convert Data to Hex String in Swift

How to convert Data to hex string in swift

A simple implementation (taken from How to hash NSString with SHA1 in Swift?, with an additional option for uppercase output) would be

extension Data {
    struct HexEncodingOptions: OptionSet {
        let rawValue: Int
        static let upperCase = HexEncodingOptions(rawValue: 1 << 0)
    }

    func hexEncodedString(options: HexEncodingOptions = []) -> String {
        let format = options.contains(.upperCase) ? "%02hhX" : "%02hhx"
        return self.map { String(format: format, $0) }.joined()
    }
}

I chose a hexEncodedString(options:) method in the style of the existing method base64EncodedString(options:).

Data conforms to the Collection protocol, therefore one can use
map() to map each byte to the corresponding hex string.
The %02x format prints the argument in base 16, filled up to two digits
with a leading zero if necessary. The hh modifier causes the argument
(which is passed as an integer on the stack) to be treated as a one byte
quantity. One could omit the modifier here because $0 is an unsigned
number (UInt8) and no sign-extension will occur, but it does no harm leaving
it in.

The result is then joined to a single string.

Example:

let data = Data([0, 1, 127, 128, 255])
// For Swift < 4.2 use:
// let data = Data(bytes: [0, 1, 127, 128, 255])
print(data.hexEncodedString()) // 00017f80ff
print(data.hexEncodedString(options: .upperCase)) // 00017F80FF

---

The following implementation is faster by a factor about 50
(tested with 1000 random bytes). It is inspired to
RenniePet's solution
and Nick Moore's solution, but takes advantage of
String(unsafeUninitializedCapacity:initializingUTF8With:)
which was introduced with Swift 5.3/Xcode 12 and is available on macOS 11 and iOS 14 or newer.

This method allows to create a Swift string from UTF-8 units efficiently, without unnecessary copying or reallocations.

An alternative implementation for older macOS/iOS versions is also provided.

extension Data {
    struct HexEncodingOptions: OptionSet {
        let rawValue: Int
        static let upperCase = HexEncodingOptions(rawValue: 1 << 0)
    }

    func hexEncodedString(options: HexEncodingOptions = []) -> String {
        let hexDigits = options.contains(.upperCase) ? "0123456789ABCDEF" : "0123456789abcdef"
        if #available(macOS 11.0, iOS 14.0, watchOS 7.0, tvOS 14.0, *) {
            let utf8Digits = Array(hexDigits.utf8)
            return String(unsafeUninitializedCapacity: 2 * self.count) { (ptr) -> Int in
                var p = ptr.baseAddress!
                for byte in self {
                    p[0] = utf8Digits[Int(byte / 16)]
                    p[1] = utf8Digits[Int(byte % 16)]
                    p += 2
                }
                return 2 * self.count
            }
        } else {
            let utf16Digits = Array(hexDigits.utf16)
            var chars: [unichar] = []
            chars.reserveCapacity(2 * self.count)
            for byte in self {
                chars.append(utf16Digits[Int(byte / 16)])
                chars.append(utf16Digits[Int(byte % 16)])
            }
            return String(utf16CodeUnits: chars, count: chars.count)
        }
    }
}

convert hex string to Data on swift

You can avoid converting your data to string and back to data manually encoding your bytes. Try like this:

extension RangeReplaceableCollection where Element == UInt8 {
    var hexaEncoded: Self {
        reduce(.init()) {
            let a = $1 / 16
            let b = $1 % 16
            return $0 + [a + (a < 10 ? 48 : 87),
                         b + (b < 10 ? 48 : 87)]
        }
    }
}

---

extension Sequence where Element == UInt8 {
    var string: String? { String(bytes: self, encoding: .utf8) }
}

---

let data = Data([0,127,255]) // "007fff"
let hexaEncodedData = data.hexaEncoded // 6 bytes [48, 48, 55, 102, 102, 102]
let hexaEncodedString = hexaEncodedData.string  // "007fff"

How to convert my bytes data to Hex String and then Signed integer (32-bit) Two's complement from that ..?

Int(str, radix: 16) interprets the string as the hexadecimal
representation of an unsigned number. You could convert it to
Int32 with

let data = Data(bytes: [206, 66, 49, 62])
let str = data.hexEncodedString()
print(str) // ce42313e

let number = Int32(truncatingBitPattern: Int(str, radix: 16)!)
print(number) // -834522818

But actually you don't need the hex representation for that purpose.
Your data is the big-endian representation of a signed 32-bit integer,
and this is how you can get the number from the data directly:

let data = Data(bytes: [206, 66, 49, 62])
let number = Int32(bigEndian: data.withUnsafeBytes { $0.pointee })
print(number) // -834522818

Swift3 convert string value to hexadecimal string

This produces the same output as the ObjC version

let str = "Say Hello to My Little Friend"
let data = Data(str.utf8)
let hexString = data.map{ String(format:"%02x", $0) }.joined()

Hex string to text conversion - swift 3

You probably can use something like this:

func hexToStr(text: String) -> String {

    let regex = try! NSRegularExpression(pattern: "(0x)?([0-9A-Fa-f]{2})", options: .caseInsensitive)
    let textNS = text as NSString
    let matchesArray = regex.matches(in: textNS as String, options: [], range: NSMakeRange(0, textNS.length))
    let characters = matchesArray.map {
        Character(UnicodeScalar(UInt32(textNS.substring(with: $0.rangeAt(2)), radix: 16)!)!)
    }

    return String(characters)
}

How do i convert HexString To ByteArray in Swift 3

This code can generate the same output as your swift 2 code.

func stringToBytes(_ string: String) -> [UInt8]? {
    let length = string.characters.count
    if length & 1 != 0 {
        return nil
    }
    var bytes = [UInt8]()
    bytes.reserveCapacity(length/2)
    var index = string.startIndex
    for _ in 0..<length/2 {
        let nextIndex = string.index(index, offsetBy: 2)
        if let b = UInt8(string[index..<nextIndex], radix: 16) {
            bytes.append(b)
        } else {
            return nil
        }
        index = nextIndex
    }
    return bytes
}

let bytes = stringToBytes("7661706f72")
print(String(bytes: bytes!, encoding: .utf8)) //->Optional("vapor")

Converting Hex String to NSData in Swift

This is my hex string to Data routine:

extension String {
    
    /// Create `Data` from hexadecimal string representation
    ///
    /// This creates a `Data` object from hex string. Note, if the string has any spaces or non-hex characters (e.g. starts with '<' and with a '>'), those are ignored and only hex characters are processed.
    ///
    /// - returns: Data represented by this hexadecimal string.
    
    var hexadecimal: Data? {
        var data = Data(capacity: count / 2)
        
        let regex = try! NSRegularExpression(pattern: "[0-9a-f]{1,2}", options: .caseInsensitive)
        regex.enumerateMatches(in: self, range: NSRange(startIndex..., in: self)) { match, _, _ in
            let byteString = (self as NSString).substring(with: match!.range)
            let num = UInt8(byteString, radix: 16)!
            data.append(num)
        }
        
        guard data.count > 0 else { return nil }
        
        return data
    }
    
}

And for the sake of completeness, this is my Data to hex string routine:

extension Data {
    
    /// Hexadecimal string representation of `Data` object.
    
    var hexadecimal: String {
        return map { String(format: "%02x", $0) }
            .joined()
    }
}

---

Note, as shown in the above, I generally only convert between hexadecimal representations and NSData instances (because if the information could have been represented as a string you probably wouldn't have created a hexadecimal representation in the first place). But your original question wanted to convert between hexadecimal representations and String objects, and that might look like so:

extension String {
    
    /// Create `String` representation of `Data` created from hexadecimal string representation
    ///
    /// This takes a hexadecimal representation and creates a String object from that. Note, if the string has any spaces, those are removed. Also if the string started with a `<` or ended with a `>`, those are removed, too.
    ///
    /// For example,
    ///
    ///     String(hexadecimal: "<666f6f>")
    ///
    /// is
    ///
    ///     Optional("foo")
    ///
    /// - returns: `String` represented by this hexadecimal string.
    
    init?(hexadecimal string: String, encoding: String.Encoding = .utf8) {
        guard let data = string.hexadecimal() else {
            return nil
        }
        
        self.init(data: data, encoding: encoding)
    }
            
    /// Create hexadecimal string representation of `String` object.
    ///
    /// For example,
    ///
    ///     "foo".hexadecimalString()
    ///
    /// is
    ///
    ///     Optional("666f6f")
    ///
    /// - parameter encoding: The `String.Encoding` that indicates how the string should be converted to `Data` before performing the hexadecimal conversion.
    ///
    /// - returns: `String` representation of this String object.
    
    func hexadecimalString(encoding: String.Encoding = .utf8) -> String? {
        return data(using: encoding)?
            .hexadecimal
    }
    
}

You could then use the above like so:

let hexString = "68656c6c 6f2c2077 6f726c64"
print(String(hexadecimal: hexString))

Or,

let originalString = "hello, world"
print(originalString.hexadecimalString())

For permutations of the above for earlier Swift versions, see the revision history of this question.

How to convert hexadecimal string to an array of UInt8 bytes in Swift?

You can convert your hexa String back to array of [UInt8] iterating every two hexa characters and initialize an UInt8 using its string radix initializer. The following implementation assumes the hexa string is well formed:

---

Edit/update: Xcode 11 • Swift 5.1

extension StringProtocol {
    var hexaData: Data { .init(hexa) }
    var hexaBytes: [UInt8] { .init(hexa) }
    private var hexa: UnfoldSequence<UInt8, Index> {
        sequence(state: startIndex) { startIndex in
            guard startIndex < self.endIndex else { return nil }
            let endIndex = self.index(startIndex, offsetBy: 2, limitedBy: self.endIndex) ?? self.endIndex
            defer { startIndex = endIndex }
            return UInt8(self[startIndex..<endIndex], radix: 16)
        }
    }
}

---

let string = "e0696349774606f1b5602ffa6c2d953f"
let data = string.hexaData    // 16 bytes
let bytes = string.hexaBytes  // [224, 105, 99, 73, 119, 70, 6, 241, 181, 96, 47, 250, 108, 45, 149, 63]

---

If you would like to handle malformed hexa strings as well you can make it a throwing method:

extension String {
    enum DecodingError: Error {
        case invalidHexaCharacter(Character), oddNumberOfCharacters
    }
}

---

extension Collection {
    func unfoldSubSequences(limitedTo maxLength: Int) -> UnfoldSequence<SubSequence,Index> {
        sequence(state: startIndex) { lowerBound in
            guard lowerBound < endIndex else { return nil }
            let upperBound = index(lowerBound,
                offsetBy: maxLength,
                limitedBy: endIndex
            ) ?? endIndex
            defer { lowerBound = upperBound }
            return self[lowerBound..<upperBound]
        }
    }
}

---

extension StringProtocol {
    func hexa<D>() throws -> D where D: DataProtocol & RangeReplaceableCollection {
        try .init(self)
    }
}

---

extension DataProtocol where Self: RangeReplaceableCollection {
    init<S: StringProtocol>(_ hexa: S) throws {
        guard hexa.count.isMultiple(of: 2) else {
            throw String.DecodingError.oddNumberOfCharacters
        }
        self = .init()
        reserveCapacity(hexa.utf8.count/2)
        for pair in hexa.unfoldSubSequences(limitedTo: 2) {
            guard let byte = UInt8(pair, radix: 16) else {
                for character in pair where !character.isHexDigit {
                    throw String.DecodingError.invalidHexaCharacter(character)
                }
                continue
            }
            append(byte)
        }
    }
}

---

Usage:

let hexaString = "e0696349774606f1b5602ffa6c2d953f"
do {
    let bytes: [UInt8] = try hexaString.hexa()
    print(bytes)
    let data: Data = try hexaString.hexa()
    print(data)
} catch {
    print(error)
}

This will print

[224, 105, 99, 73, 119, 70, 6, 241, 181, 96, 47, 250, 108, 45, 149, 63]

16 bytes

Convert Date to Hex String using Swift (BLE)

That is what I was looking for:

let dateInt = Int(Date().timeIntervalSince1970)
let dateHex = String(dateInt, radix: 16, uppercase: true)
print(dateHex)

Now dateHex could be devided on bites and sent to BLE device

How to convert an Int to Hex String in Swift

You can now do:

let n = 14
var st = String(format:"%02X", n)
st += " is the hexadecimal representation of \(n)"
print(st)

0E is the hexadecimal representation of 14

Note: The 2 in this example is the field width and represents the minimum length desired. The 0 tells it to pad the result with leading 0's if necessary. (Without the 0, the result would be padded with leading spaces). Of course, if the result is larger than two characters, the field length will not be clipped to a width of 2; it will expand to whatever length is necessary to display the full result.

This only works if you have Foundation imported (this includes the import of Cocoa or UIKit). This isn't a problem if you're doing iOS or macOS programming.

Use uppercase X if you want A...F and lowercase x if you want a...f:

String(format: "%x %X", 64206, 64206)  // "face FACE"

If you want to print integer values larger than UInt32.max, add ll (el-el, not eleven) to the format string:

let n = UInt64.max
print(String(format: "%llX is hexadecimal for \(n)", n))

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF is hexadecimal for 18446744073709551615

---

Original Answer

You can still use NSString to do this. The format is:

var st = NSString(format:"%2X", n)

This makes st an NSString, so then things like += do not work. If you want to be able to append to the string with += make st into a String like this:

var st = NSString(format:"%2X", n) as String

or

var st = String(NSString(format:"%2X", n))

or

var st: String = NSString(format:"%2X", n)

Then you can do:

let n = 123
var st = NSString(format:"%2X", n) as String
st += " is the hexadecimal representation of \(n)"
// "7B is the hexadecimal representation of 123"

---

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