How do I URL encode a string

Question

I have a URL string (NSString) with spaces and & characters. How do I url encode the entire string (including the & ampersand

Answer 1

Here's a production-ready flexible approach in Swift 5.x:

public extension CharacterSet {

    static let urlQueryParameterAllowed = CharacterSet.urlQueryAllowed.subtracting(CharacterSet(charactersIn: "&?"))

    static let urlQueryDenied           = CharacterSet.urlQueryAllowed.inverted()
    static let urlQueryKeyValueDenied   = CharacterSet.urlQueryParameterAllowed.inverted()
    static let urlPathDenied            = CharacterSet.urlPathAllowed.inverted()
    static let urlFragmentDenied        = CharacterSet.urlFragmentAllowed.inverted()
    static let urlHostDenied            = CharacterSet.urlHostAllowed.inverted()

    static let urlDenied                = CharacterSet.urlQueryDenied
        .union(.urlQueryKeyValueDenied)
        .union(.urlPathDenied)
        .union(.urlFragmentDenied)
        .union(.urlHostDenied)


    func inverted() -> CharacterSet {
        var copy = self
        copy.invert()
        return copy
    }
}



public extension String {
    func urlEncoded(denying deniedCharacters: CharacterSet = .urlDenied) -> String? {
        return addingPercentEncoding(withAllowedCharacters: deniedCharacters.inverted())
    }
}

Example usage:

print("Hello, World!".urlEncoded()!)
print("You&Me?".urlEncoded()!)
print("#Blessed 100%".urlEncoded()!)
print("Pride and Prejudice".urlEncoded(denying: .uppercaseLetters)!)

Output:

Hello,%20World!
You%26Me%3F
%23Blessed%20100%25
%50ride and %50rejudice