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

After reading all the answers for this topic and the (wrong) accepted one, I want to add my contribution.

IF the target is iOS7+, and in 2017 it should since XCode makes really hard to deliver compatibility under iOS8, the best way, thread safe, fast, amd will full UTF-8 support to do this is:

(Objective C code)

@implementation NSString (NSString_urlencoding)

- (NSString *)urlencode {
    static NSMutableCharacterSet *chars = nil;
    static dispatch_once_t pred;

    if (chars)
        return [self stringByAddingPercentEncodingWithAllowedCharacters:chars];

    // to be thread safe
    dispatch_once(&pred, ^{
        chars = NSCharacterSet.URLQueryAllowedCharacterSet.mutableCopy;
        [chars removeCharactersInString:@"!*'();:@&=+$,/?%#[]"];
    });
    return [self stringByAddingPercentEncodingWithAllowedCharacters:chars];
}
@end

This will extend NSString, will exclude RFC forbidden characters, support UTF-8 characters, and let you use things like:

NSString *myusername = "I'm[evil]&want(to)break!!!$->àéìòù";
NSLog(@"Source: %@ -> Dest: %@", myusername, [myusername urlencode]);

That will print on your debug console:

Source: I'm[evil]&want(to)break!!!$->àéìòù -> Dest: I%27m%5Bevil%5D%26want%28to%29break%21%21%21%24-%3E%C3%A0%C3%A9%C3%AC%C3%B2%C3%B9

... note also the use of dispatch_once to avoid multiple initializations in multithread environments.

Answer 2

I opted to use the CFURLCreateStringByAddingPercentEscapes call as given by accepted answer, however in newest version of XCode (and IOS), it resulted in an error, so used the following instead:

NSString *apiKeyRaw = @"79b|7Qd.jW=])(fv|M&W0O|3CENnrbNh4}2E|-)J*BCjCMrWy%dSfGs#A6N38Fo~";

NSString *apiKey = (NSString *)CFBridgingRelease(CFURLCreateStringByAddingPercentEscapes(NULL, (CFStringRef)apiKeyRaw, NULL, (CFStringRef)@"!*'();:@&=+$,/?%#[]", kCFStringEncodingUTF8));

Answer 3

So many answers but didn't work for me, so I tried the following:

fun simpleServiceCall(for serviceUrl: String, appendToUrl: String) { 
    let urlString: String = serviceUrl + appendToUrl.addingPercentEncoding(withAllowedCharacters: .urlPathAllowed)!     

    let finalUrl = URL(string: urlString)!

    //continue to execute your service call... 
}

Hopefully it'll help someone. thanks

Answer 4

For individual www form-encoded query parameters, I made a category on NSString:

- (NSString*)WWWFormEncoded{
     NSMutableCharacterSet *chars = NSCharacterSet.alphanumericCharacterSet.mutableCopy;
     [chars addCharactersInString:@" "];
     NSString* encodedString = [self stringByAddingPercentEncodingWithAllowedCharacters:chars];
     encodedString = [encodedString stringByReplacingOccurrencesOfString:@" " withString:@"+"];
     return encodedString;
}

Answer 5

This one is working for me.

func stringByAddingPercentEncodingForFormData(plusForSpace: Bool=false) -> String? {
    let unreserved = "*-._"
    let allowed = NSMutableCharacterSet.alphanumericCharacterSet()
    allowed.addCharactersInString(unreserved)

    if plusForSpace {
        allowed.addCharactersInString(" ")
    }

    var encoded = stringByAddingPercentEncodingWithAllowedCharacters(allowed)
    if plusForSpace {
        encoded = encoded?.stringByReplacingOccurrencesOfString(" ",
                                                                withString: "+")
    }
    return encoded
}

I found the above function from this link: http://useyourloaf.com/blog/how-to-percent-encode-a-url-string/

You can also use this function with swift extension. Please let me know if there is any issue.

Answer 6

In swift 3:

// exclude alpha and numeric == "full" encoding
stringUrl = stringUrl.addingPercentEncoding(withAllowedCharacters: .alphanumerics)!;

// exclude hostname and symbols &,/ and etc
stringUrl = stringUrl.addingPercentEncoding(withAllowedCharacters: .urlHostAllowed)!;