How to convert Data to hex string in swift

Question

I want the hexadecimal representation of a Data value in Swift.

Eventually I'd want to use it like this:

let data = Data(base64Encoded: "aGVsbG8gd29ybGQ=")!
print(data.hexString)

Answer 1

An alternative implementation (taken from How to crypt string to sha1 with 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 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(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 120 (tested with 1000 random bytes). It is similar to RenniePet's solution and Nick Moore's solution, but based on UTF-16 code units, which is what Swift strings (currently) use as internal storage.

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

    func hexEncodedString(options: HexEncodingOptions = []) -> String {
        let hexDigits = Array((options.contains(.upperCase) ? "0123456789ABCDEF" : "0123456789abcdef").utf16)
        var chars: [unichar] = []
        chars.reserveCapacity(2 * count)
        for byte in self {
            chars.append(hexDigits[Int(byte / 16)])
            chars.append(hexDigits[Int(byte % 16)])
        }
        return String(utf16CodeUnits: chars, count: chars.count)
    }
}

Answer 2

Swift 4 - From Data to Hex String
Based upon Martin R's solution but even a tiny bit faster.

extension Data {
  /// A hexadecimal string representation of the bytes.
  func hexEncodedString() -> String {
    let hexDigits = Array("0123456789abcdef".utf16)
    var hexChars = [UTF16.CodeUnit]()
    hexChars.reserveCapacity(count * 2)

    for byte in self {
      let (index1, index2) = Int(byte).quotientAndRemainder(dividingBy: 16)
      hexChars.append(hexDigits[index1])
      hexChars.append(hexDigits[index2])
    }

    return String(utf16CodeUnits: hexChars, count: hexChars.count)
  }
}

Swift 4 - From Hex String to Data
I've also added a fast solution for converting a hex String into Data (based on a C solution).

extension String {
  /// A data representation of the hexadecimal bytes in this string.
  func hexDecodedData() -> Data {
    // Get the UTF8 characters of this string
    let chars = Array(utf8)

    // Keep the bytes in an UInt8 array and later convert it to Data
    var bytes = [UInt8]()
    bytes.reserveCapacity(count / 2)

    // It is a lot faster to use a lookup map instead of strtoul
    let map: [UInt8] = [
      0x00, 0x01, 0x02, 0x03, 0x04, 0x05, 0x06, 0x07, // 01234567
      0x08, 0x09, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, // 89:;<=>?
      0x00, 0x0a, 0x0b, 0x0c, 0x0d, 0x0e, 0x0f, 0x00, // @ABCDEFG
      0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00  // HIJKLMNO
    ]

    // Grab two characters at a time, map them and turn it into a byte
    for i in stride(from: 0, to: count, by: 2) {
      let index1 = Int(chars[i] & 0x1F ^ 0x10)
      let index2 = Int(chars[i + 1] & 0x1F ^ 0x10)
      bytes.append(map[index1] << 4 | map[index2])
    }

    return Data(bytes)
  }
}

Note: this function does not validate the input. Make sure that it is only used for hexadecimal strings with (an even amount of) characters.

Answer 3

My version. It's not as elegant, but it's about 10 times faster than the accepted answer by Martin R.

extension Data {
    private static let hexAlphabet = "0123456789abcdef".unicodeScalars.map { $0 }

    public func hexEncodedString() -> String {
        return String(self.reduce(into: "".unicodeScalars, { (result, value) in
            result.append(Data.hexAlphabet[Int(value/16)])
            result.append(Data.hexAlphabet[Int(value%16)])
        }))
    }
}

Answer 4

This code extends the Data type with a computed property. It iterates through the bytes of data and concatenates the byte's hex representation to the result:

extension Data {
    var hexDescription: String {
        return reduce("") {$0 + String(format: "%02x", $1)}
    }
}

Answer 5

This doesn't really answer the OP's question since it works on a Swift byte array, not a Data object. And it's much bigger than the other answers. But it should be more efficient since it avoids using String(format: ).

Anyway, in the hopes someone finds this useful ...

public class StringMisc {

   // MARK: - Constants

   // This is used by the byteArrayToHexString() method
   private static let CHexLookup : [Character] =
      [ "0", "1", "2", "3", "4", "5", "6", "7", "8", "9", "A", "B", "C", "D", "E", "F" ]


   // Mark: - Public methods

   /// Method to convert a byte array into a string containing hex characters, without any
   /// additional formatting.
   public static func byteArrayToHexString(_ byteArray : [UInt8]) -> String {

      var stringToReturn = ""

      for oneByte in byteArray {
         let asInt = Int(oneByte)
         stringToReturn.append(StringMisc.CHexLookup[asInt >> 4])
         stringToReturn.append(StringMisc.CHexLookup[asInt & 0x0f])
      }
      return stringToReturn
   }
}

Test case:

  // Test the byteArrayToHexString() method
  let byteArray : [UInt8] = [ 0x25, 0x99, 0xf3 ]
  assert(StringMisc.byteArrayToHexString(byteArray) == "2599F3")