How can I get the file path from a UIImage?

Question

Usually it's the other way around, you use the path to display the image. I was wondering if you can get the path if you already have the image.

Answer 1

if you already have the image i.e. have added the file to your resources, you can use this to get the file path;

NSString *string = [[NSBundle mainBundle] pathForResource:@"IMAGE_FILE_NAME" ofType:@"jpg"]; // or ofType:@"png", etc.

Answer 2

I don't believe it is possible to get it directly from UIImage.

Best way is to save the image in a directory, then you will have the file path.

//image is your UIImage;

if (image != nil)
{
    NSArray *paths = NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(NSDocumentDirectory,
                                                         NSUserDomainMask, YES);
    NSString *documentsDirectory = [paths objectAtIndex:0];
    NSString* path = [documentsDirectory stringByAppendingPathComponent:
                      @"test.png" ];
    NSData* data = UIImagePNGRepresentation(image);
    [data writeToFile:path atomically:YES];
}

path will be your filepath.

Answer 3

Once a UIImage is created, the image data is loaded into memory and no longer connected to the file on disk. As such, the file can be deleted or modified without consequence to the UIImage and there is no way of getting the source path from a UIImage.