Convert Hex to RGBA

Question

My fiddle - http://jsbin.com/pitu/1/edit

I wanted to try an easy hex to rgba conversion. Ever browser I\'ve used renders colors using rgb as default so when using th

Answer 1

Clean TypeScript version:

hexToRGB(hex: string, alpha: string) {

  const r = parseInt(hex.slice(1, 3), 16);
  const g = parseInt(hex.slice(3, 5), 16);
  const b = parseInt(hex.slice(5, 7), 16);

  if (alpha) {
    return `rgba(${r}, ${g}, ${b}, ${alpha})`;
  } else {
    return `rgb(${r}, ${g}, ${b})`;
  }
}

Based on @AJFarkas's answer.

Answer 2

Here's a quick function that supports 3, 4, 6 and 8 character color codes:

function hexToRGBA(hex) {
    // remove invalid characters
    hex = hex.replace(/[^0-9a-fA-F]/g, '');

    if (hex.length < 5) { 
        // 3, 4 characters double-up
        hex = hex.split('').map(s => s + s).join('');
    }

    // parse pairs of two
    let rgba = hex.match(/.{1,2}/g).map(s => parseInt(s, 16));

    // alpha code between 0 & 1 / default 1
    rgba[3] = rgba.length > 3 ? parseFloat(rgba[3] / 255).toFixed(2): 1;

    return 'rgba(' + rgba.join(', ') + ')';
}

Here's what it does. It removes any non-hexadecimal characters. If the HEX is shorter than 5 (3 or 4) characters, it doubles each character. It then splits the HEX into pairs of two characters and parses each pair to an integer. If there is an alpha HEX, it's parsed to a float from 0 to 1, otherwise it's defaulted to 1. The RGBA string is then formed by joining the array and returned.

Answer 3

ES6 modern, RegEx free, solution with error checking and constant arrow function, that returns null for errors. If alpha is not given then the default value of one is used:

const hexToRGB = (hex, alpha = 1) => {
    let parseString = hex;
    if (hex.startsWith('#')) {parseString = hex.slice(1, 7);}
    if (parseString.length !== 6) {return null;}
    const r = parseInt(parseString.slice(0, 2), 16);
    const g = parseInt(parseString.slice(2, 4), 16);
    const b = parseInt(parseString.slice(4, 6), 16);
    if (isNaN(r) || isNaN(g) || isNaN(b)) {return null;}
    return `rgba(${r}, ${g}, ${b}, ${alpha})`;
};

Note: It returns null for errors. You may replace {return null;} with a throw statement: {throw "Not a valid hex color!";}, but then you should call it from within try-catch:

hexToRGB("#3454r5") => null
hexToRGB("#345465") => rgba(52, 84, 101, 1)
hexToRGB("#345465", 0.5) => rgba(52, 84, 101, 0.5)

Answer 4

Here's an ES2015+ version that's a little more defensive and handles the shorthand 3-digit syntax.

/*
 * Takes a 3 or 6-digit hex color code, and an optional 0-255 numeric alpha value
 */
function hexToRGB(hex, alpha) {
  if (typeof hex !== 'string' || hex[0] !== '#') return null; // or return 'transparent'

  const stringValues = (hex.length === 4)
        ? [hex.slice(1, 2), hex.slice(2, 3), hex.slice(3, 4)].map(n => `${n}${n}`)
        : [hex.slice(1, 3), hex.slice(3, 5), hex.slice(5, 7)];
  const intValues = stringValues.map(n => parseInt(n, 16));

  return (typeof alpha === 'number')
    ? `rgba(${intValues.join(', ')}, ${alpha})`
    : `rgb(${intValues.join(', ')})`;
}

Answer 5

Convert HEX with alpha (ahex) in to rgba.

function ahex_to_rba(ahex) {
    //clean #
    ahex = ahex.substring(1, ahex.length);
    ahex = ahex.split('');

    var r = ahex[0] + ahex[0],
        g = ahex[1] + ahex[1],
        b = ahex[2] + ahex[2],
        a = ahex[3] + ahex[3];

    if (ahex.length >= 6) {
        r = ahex[0] + ahex[1];
        g = ahex[2] + ahex[3];
        b = ahex[4] + ahex[5];
        a = ahex[6] + (ahex[7] ? ahex[7] : ahex[6]);
    }

    var int_r = parseInt(r, 16),
        int_g = parseInt(g, 16),
        int_b = parseInt(b, 16),
        int_a = parseInt(a, 16);


    int_a = int_a / 255;

    if (int_a < 1 && int_a > 0) int_a = int_a.toFixed(2);

    if (int_a || int_a === 0)
        return 'rgba('+int_r+', '+int_g+', '+int_b+', '+int_a+')';
    return 'rgb('+int_r+', '+int_g+', '+int_b+')';
}

Try it yourself with snippet:

function ahex_to_rba(ahex) {
    //clean #
    ahex = ahex.substring(1, ahex.length);
    ahex = ahex.split('');

    var r = ahex[0] + ahex[0],
        g = ahex[1] + ahex[1],
        b = ahex[2] + ahex[2],
        a = ahex[3] + ahex[3];

    if (ahex.length >= 6) {
        r = ahex[0] + ahex[1];
        g = ahex[2] + ahex[3];
        b = ahex[4] + ahex[5];
        a = ahex[6] + (ahex[7] ? ahex[7] : ahex[6]);
    }

    var int_r = parseInt(r, 16),
        int_g = parseInt(g, 16),
        int_b = parseInt(b, 16),
        int_a = parseInt(a, 16);


    int_a = int_a / 255;

    if (int_a < 1 && int_a > 0) int_a = int_a.toFixed(2);

    if (int_a || int_a === 0)
        return 'rgba('+int_r+', '+int_g+', '+int_b+', '+int_a+')';
    return 'rgb('+int_r+', '+int_g+', '+int_b+')';
}


$(function() {
  $('#go').click(function() {
    $('p b').text(ahex_to_rba($('#hex').val()));
  })
});

<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/jquery/3.3.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
<input id="hex" type="text" value="#ffaaffaa">
<input id="go" type="button" value="Go">

<p>Result: <b></b></p>

Original Author

Answer 6

And another one based around bit shifting.

// hex can be a string in the format of "fc9a04", "0xfc9a04" or "#fc90a4" (uppercase digits are allowed) or the equivalent number
// alpha should be 0-1
const hex2rgb = (hex, alpha) => {
  const c = typeof(hex) === 'string' ? parseInt(hex.replace('#', ''), 16)  : hex;
  return `rgb(${c >> 16}, ${(c & 0xff00) >> 8}, ${c & 0xff}, ${alpha})`;
};