How can I create a UIColor from a hex string?

Question

How can I create a UIColor from a hexadecimal string format, such as #00FF00?

Answer 1

I ended up creating a category for UIColor that I can just reuse in my other projects, and added this function:

+ (UIColor *)colorFromHex:(unsigned long)hex
{
    return [UIColor colorWithRed:((float)((hex & 0xFF0000) >> 16))/255.0
                           green:((float)((hex & 0xFF00) >> 8))/255.0
                            blue:((float)(hex & 0xFF))/255.0
                           alpha:1.0];
}

The usage goes like:

UIColor *customRedColor = [UIColor colorFromHex:0x990000];

This is far faster than passing on a string and converting it to a number then shifting the bits.

You can also import the category from inside your .pch file so you can easily use colorFromHex everywhere in your app like it's built-in to UIColor:

#ifdef __OBJC__
    #import <UIKit/UIKit.h>
    #import <Foundation/Foundation.h>
    // Your other stuff here...
    #import "UIColor+HexColor.h"
#endif

Answer 2

Another version with alpha

#define UIColorFromRGBA(rgbValue) [UIColor colorWithRed:((float)((rgbValue & 0xFF000000) >> 24))/255.0 green:((float)((rgbValue & 0xFF0000) >> 16))/255.0 blue:((float)((rgbValue & 0xFF00) >> 8 ))/255.0 alpha:((float)((rgbValue & 0xFF))/255.0)]

Answer 3

Here's a Swift 1.2 version written as an extension to UIColor. This allows you to do

let redColor = UIColor(hex: "#FF0000")

Which I feel is the most natural way of doing it.

extension UIColor {
  // Initialiser for strings of format '#_RED_GREEN_BLUE_'
  convenience init(hex: String) {
    let redRange    = Range<String.Index>(start: hex.startIndex.advancedBy(1), end: hex.startIndex.advancedBy(3))
    let greenRange  = Range<String.Index>(start: hex.startIndex.advancedBy(3), end: hex.startIndex.advancedBy(5))
    let blueRange   = Range<String.Index>(start: hex.startIndex.advancedBy(5), end: hex.startIndex.advancedBy(7))

    var red     : UInt32 = 0
    var green   : UInt32 = 0
    var blue    : UInt32 = 0

    NSScanner(string: hex.substringWithRange(redRange)).scanHexInt(&red)
    NSScanner(string: hex.substringWithRange(greenRange)).scanHexInt(&green)
    NSScanner(string: hex.substringWithRange(blueRange)).scanHexInt(&blue)

    self.init(
      red: CGFloat(red) / 255,
      green: CGFloat(green) / 255,
      blue: CGFloat(blue) / 255,
      alpha: 1
    )
  }
}

Answer 4

There's a nice post on how to tackle the OP's question of extracting a UIColor from a hex string. The solution presented below is different from others because it supports string values that may include '0x' or '#' prefixed to the hex string representation... (see usage)

Here's the main bit...

- (UIColor *)getUIColorObjectFromHexString:(NSString *)hexStr alpha:(CGFloat)alpha
{
  // Convert hex string to an integer
  unsigned int hexint = [self intFromHexString:hexStr];

  // Create a color object, specifying alpha as well
  UIColor *color =
    [UIColor colorWithRed:((CGFloat) ((hexint & 0xFF0000) >> 16))/255
    green:((CGFloat) ((hexint & 0xFF00) >> 8))/255
    blue:((CGFloat) (hexint & 0xFF))/255
    alpha:alpha];

  return color;
}

Helper method...

- (unsigned int)intFromHexString:(NSString *)hexStr
{
  unsigned int hexInt = 0;

  // Create scanner
  NSScanner *scanner = [NSScanner scannerWithString:hexStr];

  // Tell scanner to skip the # character
  [scanner setCharactersToBeSkipped:[NSCharacterSet characterSetWithCharactersInString:@"#"]];

  // Scan hex value
  [scanner scanHexInt:&hexInt];

  return hexInt;
}

Usage:

NSString *hexStr1 = @"123ABC";
NSString *hexStr2 = @"#123ABC";
NSString *hexStr3 = @"0x123ABC";

UIColor *color1 = [self getUIColorObjectFromHexString:hexStr1 alpha:.9];
NSLog(@"UIColor: %@", color1);

UIColor *color2 = [self getUIColorObjectFromHexString:hexStr2 alpha:.9];
NSLog(@"UIColor: %@", color2);

UIColor *color3 = [self getUIColorObjectFromHexString:hexStr3 alpha:.9];
NSLog(@"UIColor: %@", color3);

Complete Reference Article

Swift 2+

I've ported this solution to Swift 2.2. Note that I've changed the alpha parameter to use a default set to 1.0. I've also updated the int type to UInt32 as required by the NSScanner class in Swift 2.2.

func colorWithHexString(hexString: String, alpha:CGFloat = 1.0) -> UIColor {

    // Convert hex string to an integer
    let hexint = Int(self.intFromHexString(hexString))
    let red = CGFloat((hexint & 0xff0000) >> 16) / 255.0
    let green = CGFloat((hexint & 0xff00) >> 8) / 255.0
    let blue = CGFloat((hexint & 0xff) >> 0) / 255.0 

    // Create color object, specifying alpha as well
    let color = UIColor(red: red, green: green, blue: blue, alpha: alpha)
    return color
}

func intFromHexString(hexStr: String) -> UInt32 {
    var hexInt: UInt32 = 0
    // Create scanner
    let scanner: NSScanner = NSScanner(string: hexStr)
    // Tell scanner to skip the # character
    scanner.charactersToBeSkipped = NSCharacterSet(charactersInString: "#")
    // Scan hex value
    scanner.scanHexInt(&hexInt)
    return hexInt
}

Swift 4+

Using the same logic with changes applied for swift 4,

func colorWithHexString(hexString: String, alpha:CGFloat = 1.0) -> UIColor {

    // Convert hex string to an integer
    let hexint = Int(self.intFromHexString(hexStr: hexString))
    let red = CGFloat((hexint & 0xff0000) >> 16) / 255.0
    let green = CGFloat((hexint & 0xff00) >> 8) / 255.0
    let blue = CGFloat((hexint & 0xff) >> 0) / 255.0

    // Create color object, specifying alpha as well
    let color = UIColor(red: red, green: green, blue: blue, alpha: alpha)
    return color
}

func intFromHexString(hexStr: String) -> UInt32 {
    var hexInt: UInt32 = 0
    // Create scanner
    let scanner: Scanner = Scanner(string: hexStr)
    // Tell scanner to skip the # character
    scanner.charactersToBeSkipped = CharacterSet(charactersIn: "#")
    // Scan hex value
    scanner.scanHexInt32(&hexInt)
    return hexInt
}

Color Hex References

HTML Color Names and Codes

Color Hex Color Codes

Answer 5

A concise solution:

// Assumes input like "#00FF00" (#RRGGBB).
+ (UIColor *)colorFromHexString:(NSString *)hexString {
    unsigned rgbValue = 0;
    NSScanner *scanner = [NSScanner scannerWithString:hexString];
    [scanner setScanLocation:1]; // bypass '#' character
    [scanner scanHexInt:&rgbValue];
    return [UIColor colorWithRed:((rgbValue & 0xFF0000) >> 16)/255.0 green:((rgbValue & 0xFF00) >> 8)/255.0 blue:(rgbValue & 0xFF)/255.0 alpha:1.0];
}

Answer 6

You can make a extension like this

extension UIColor{
    convenience init(rgb: UInt, alphaVal: CGFloat) {
        self.init(
            red: CGFloat((rgb & 0xFF0000) >> 16) / 255.0,
            green: CGFloat((rgb & 0x00FF00) >> 8) / 255.0,
            blue: CGFloat(rgb & 0x0000FF) / 255.0,
            alpha: alphaVal
        )
    }
}

And use it anywhere like this

UIColor(rgb: 0xffffff, alphaVal: 0.2)