Best way to serialize an NSData into a hexadeximal

Question

I am looking for a nice-cocoa way to serialize an NSData object into a hexadecimal string. The idea is to serialize the deviceToken used for notification before sending it to my server.

I have the following implementation, but I am thinking there must be some shorter and nicer way to do it.

+ (NSString*) serializeDeviceToken:(NSData*) deviceToken
{
    NSMutableString *str = [NSMutableString stringWithCapacity:64];
    int length = [deviceToken length];
    char *bytes = malloc(sizeof(char) * length);

    [deviceToken getBytes:bytes length:length];

    for (int i = 0; i < length; i++)
    {
        [str appendFormat:@"%02.2hhX", bytes[i]];
    }
    free(bytes);

    return str;
}

Answer 1

Swift + Property.

I prefer to have hex representation as property (the same as bytes and description properties):

extension NSData {

    var hexString: String {

        let buffer = UnsafeBufferPointer<UInt8>(start: UnsafePointer(self.bytes), count: self.length)
        return buffer.map { String(format: "%02x", $0) }.joinWithSeparator("")
    }

    var heXString: String {

        let buffer = UnsafeBufferPointer<UInt8>(start: UnsafePointer(self.bytes), count: self.length)
        return buffer.map { String(format: "%02X", $0) }.joinWithSeparator("")
    }
}

Idea is borrowed from this answer

Answer 2

You can always use [yourString uppercaseString] to capitalize letters in data description

Answer 3

This is a category applied to NSData that I wrote. It returns a hexadecimal NSString representing the NSData, where the data can be any length. Returns an empty string if NSData is empty.

NSData+Conversion.h

#import <Foundation/Foundation.h>

@interface NSData (NSData_Conversion)

#pragma mark - String Conversion
- (NSString *)hexadecimalString;

@end

NSData+Conversion.m

#import "NSData+Conversion.h"

@implementation NSData (NSData_Conversion)

#pragma mark - String Conversion
- (NSString *)hexadecimalString {
    /* Returns hexadecimal string of NSData. Empty string if data is empty.   */

    const unsigned char *dataBuffer = (const unsigned char *)[self bytes];

    if (!dataBuffer)
        return [NSString string];

    NSUInteger          dataLength  = [self length];
    NSMutableString     *hexString  = [NSMutableString stringWithCapacity:(dataLength * 2)];

    for (int i = 0; i < dataLength; ++i)
        [hexString appendString:[NSString stringWithFormat:@"%02lx", (unsigned long)dataBuffer[i]]];

    return [NSString stringWithString:hexString];
}

@end

Usage:

NSData *someData = ...;
NSString *someDataHexadecimalString = [someData hexadecimalString];

This is "probably" better than calling [someData description] and then stripping the spaces, <'s, and >'s. Stripping characters just feels too "hacky". Plus you never know if Apple will change the formatting of NSData's -description in the future.

NOTE: I have had people reach out to me about licensing for the code in this answer. I hereby dedicate my copyright in the code I posted in this answer to the public domain.

Answer 4

Change %08x to %08X to get capital characters.

Answer 5

I needed to solve this problem and found the answers here very useful, but I worry about performance. Most of these answers involve copying the data in bulk out of NSData so I wrote the following to do the conversion with low overhead:

@interface NSData (HexString)
@end

@implementation NSData (HexString)

- (NSString *)hexString {
    NSMutableString *string = [NSMutableString stringWithCapacity:self.length * 3];
    [self enumerateByteRangesUsingBlock:^(const void *bytes, NSRange byteRange, BOOL *stop){
        for (NSUInteger offset = 0; offset < byteRange.length; ++offset) {
            uint8_t byte = ((const uint8_t *)bytes)[offset];
            if (string.length == 0)
                [string appendFormat:@"%02X", byte];
            else
                [string appendFormat:@" %02X", byte];
        }
    }];
    return string;
}

This pre-allocates space in the string for the entire result and avoids ever copying the NSData contents out by using enumerateByteRangesUsingBlock. Changing the X to an x in the format string will use lowercase hex digits. If you don't want a separator between the bytes you can reduce the statement

if (string.length == 0)
    [string appendFormat:@"%02X", byte];
else
    [string appendFormat:@" %02X", byte];

down to just

[string appendFormat:@"%02X", byte];

Answer 6

Here is a faster way to do the conversion:

BenchMark (mean time for a 1024 bytes data conversion repeated 100 times):

Dave Gallagher : ~8.070 ms
NSProgrammer : ~0.077 ms
Peter : ~0.031 ms
This One : ~0.017 ms

@implementation NSData (BytesExtras)

static char _NSData_BytesConversionString_[512] = "000102030405060708090a0b0c0d0e0f101112131415161718191a1b1c1d1e1f202122232425262728292a2b2c2d2e2f303132333435363738393a3b3c3d3e3f404142434445464748494a4b4c4d4e4f505152535455565758595a5b5c5d5e5f606162636465666768696a6b6c6d6e6f707172737475767778797a7b7c7d7e7f808182838485868788898a8b8c8d8e8f909192939495969798999a9b9c9d9e9fa0a1a2a3a4a5a6a7a8a9aaabacadaeafb0b1b2b3b4b5b6b7b8b9babbbcbdbebfc0c1c2c3c4c5c6c7c8c9cacbcccdcecfd0d1d2d3d4d5d6d7d8d9dadbdcffffdedfe0e1e2e3e4e5e6e7e8e9eaebecedeeeff0f1f2f3f4f5f6f7f8f9fafbfcfdfeff";

-(NSString*)bytesString
{
    UInt16*  mapping = (UInt16*)_NSData_BytesConversionString_;
    register UInt16 len = self.length;
    char*    hexChars = (char*)malloc( sizeof(char) * (len*2) );

    // --- Coeur's contribution - a safe way to check the allocation
    if (hexChars == NULL) {
    // we directly raise an exception instead of using NSAssert to make sure assertion is not disabled as this is irrecoverable
        [NSException raise:@"NSInternalInconsistencyException" format:@"failed malloc" arguments:nil];
        return nil;
    }
    // ---

    register UInt16* dst = ((UInt16*)hexChars) + len-1;
    register unsigned char* src = (unsigned char*)self.bytes + len-1;

    while (len--) *dst-- = mapping[*src--];

    NSString* retVal = [[NSString alloc] initWithBytesNoCopy:hexChars length:self.length*2 encoding:NSASCIIStringEncoding freeWhenDone:YES];
#if (!__has_feature(objc_arc))
   return [retVal autorelease];
#else
    return retVal;
#endif
}

@end