How do I decode HTML entities in Swift?

Question

This answer was last revised for Swift 5.2 and iOS 13.4 SDK.

---

There's no straightforward way to do that, but you can use NSAttributedString magic to make this process as painless as possible (be warned that this method will strip all HTML tags as well).

Remember to initialize NSAttributedString from main thread only. It uses WebKit to parse HTML underneath, thus the requirement.

// This is a[0]["title"] in your case
let encodedString = "The Weeknd <em>&#8216;King Of The Fall&#8217;</em>"

guard let data = htmlEncodedString.data(using: .utf8) else {
    return
}

let options: [NSAttributedString.DocumentReadingOptionKey: Any] = [
    .documentType: NSAttributedString.DocumentType.html,
    .characterEncoding: String.Encoding.utf8.rawValue
]

guard let attributedString = try? NSAttributedString(data: data, options: options, documentAttributes: nil) else {
    return
}

// The Weeknd ‘King Of The Fall’
let decodedString = attributedString.string

extension String {

    init?(htmlEncodedString: String) {

        guard let data = htmlEncodedString.data(using: .utf8) else {
            return nil
        }

        let options: [NSAttributedString.DocumentReadingOptionKey: Any] = [
            .documentType: NSAttributedString.DocumentType.html,
            .characterEncoding: String.Encoding.utf8.rawValue
        ]

        guard let attributedString = try? NSAttributedString(data: data, options: options, documentAttributes: nil) else {
            return nil
        }

        self.init(attributedString.string)

    }

}

let encodedString = "The Weeknd <em>&#8216;King Of The Fall&#8217;</em>"
let decodedString = String(htmlEncodedString: encodedString)

@akashivskyy's answer is great and demonstrates how to utilize NSAttributedString to decode HTML entities. One possible disadvantage (as he stated) is that all HTML markup is removed as well, so

<strong> 4 &lt; 5 &amp; 3 &gt; 2</strong>

becomes

4 < 5 & 3 > 2

On OS X there is CFXMLCreateStringByUnescapingEntities() which does the job:

let encoded = "<strong> 4 &lt; 5 &amp; 3 &gt; 2 .</strong> Price: 12 &#x20ac;.  &#64; "
let decoded = CFXMLCreateStringByUnescapingEntities(nil, encoded, nil) as String
println(decoded)
// <strong> 4 < 5 & 3 > 2 .</strong> Price: 12 €.  @ 

but this is not available on iOS.

Here is a pure Swift implementation. It decodes character entities references like < using a dictionary, and all numeric character entities like &#64 or &#x20ac. (Note that I did not list all 252 HTML entities explicitly.)

Swift 4:

// Mapping from XML/HTML character entity reference to character
// From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_XML_and_HTML_character_entity_references
private let characterEntities : [ Substring : Character ] = [
    // XML predefined entities:
    """    : "\"",
    "&"     : "&",
    "'"    : "'",
    "&lt;"      : "<",
    "&gt;"      : ">",

    // HTML character entity references:
    "&nbsp;"    : "\u{00a0}",
    // ...
    "&diams;"   : "♦",
]

extension String {

    /// Returns a new string made by replacing in the `String`
    /// all HTML character entity references with the corresponding
    /// character.
    var stringByDecodingHTMLEntities : String {

        // ===== Utility functions =====

        // Convert the number in the string to the corresponding
        // Unicode character, e.g.
        //    decodeNumeric("64", 10)   --> "@"
        //    decodeNumeric("20ac", 16) --> "€"
        func decodeNumeric(_ string : Substring, base : Int) -> Character? {
            guard let code = UInt32(string, radix: base),
                let uniScalar = UnicodeScalar(code) else { return nil }
            return Character(uniScalar)
        }

        // Decode the HTML character entity to the corresponding
        // Unicode character, return `nil` for invalid input.
        //     decode("&#64;")    --> "@"
        //     decode("&#x20ac;") --> "€"
        //     decode("&lt;")     --> "<"
        //     decode("&foo;")    --> nil
        func decode(_ entity : Substring) -> Character? {

            if entity.hasPrefix("&#x") || entity.hasPrefix("&#X") {
                return decodeNumeric(entity.dropFirst(3).dropLast(), base: 16)
            } else if entity.hasPrefix("&#") {
                return decodeNumeric(entity.dropFirst(2).dropLast(), base: 10)
            } else {
                return characterEntities[entity]
            }
        }

        // ===== Method starts here =====

        var result = ""
        var position = startIndex

        // Find the next '&' and copy the characters preceding it to `result`:
        while let ampRange = self[position...].range(of: "&") {
            result.append(contentsOf: self[position ..< ampRange.lowerBound])
            position = ampRange.lowerBound

            // Find the next ';' and copy everything from '&' to ';' into `entity`
            guard let semiRange = self[position...].range(of: ";") else {
                // No matching ';'.
                break
            }
            let entity = self[position ..< semiRange.upperBound]
            position = semiRange.upperBound

            if let decoded = decode(entity) {
                // Replace by decoded character:
                result.append(decoded)
            } else {
                // Invalid entity, copy verbatim:
                result.append(contentsOf: entity)
            }
        }
        // Copy remaining characters to `result`:
        result.append(contentsOf: self[position...])
        return result
    }
}

Example:

let encoded = "<strong> 4 &lt; 5 &amp; 3 &gt; 2 .</strong> Price: 12 &#x20ac;.  &#64; "
let decoded = encoded.stringByDecodingHTMLEntities
print(decoded)
// <strong> 4 < 5 & 3 > 2 .</strong> Price: 12 €.  @

---

Swift 3:

// Mapping from XML/HTML character entity reference to character
// From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_XML_and_HTML_character_entity_references
private let characterEntities : [ String : Character ] = [
    // XML predefined entities:
    """    : "\"",
    "&"     : "&",
    "'"    : "'",
    "&lt;"      : "<",
    "&gt;"      : ">",

    // HTML character entity references:
    "&nbsp;"    : "\u{00a0}",
    // ...
    "&diams;"   : "♦",
]

extension String {

    /// Returns a new string made by replacing in the `String`
    /// all HTML character entity references with the corresponding
    /// character.
    var stringByDecodingHTMLEntities : String {

        // ===== Utility functions =====

        // Convert the number in the string to the corresponding
        // Unicode character, e.g.
        //    decodeNumeric("64", 10)   --> "@"
        //    decodeNumeric("20ac", 16) --> "€"
        func decodeNumeric(_ string : String, base : Int) -> Character? {
            guard let code = UInt32(string, radix: base),
                let uniScalar = UnicodeScalar(code) else { return nil }
            return Character(uniScalar)
        }

        // Decode the HTML character entity to the corresponding
        // Unicode character, return `nil` for invalid input.
        //     decode("&#64;")    --> "@"
        //     decode("&#x20ac;") --> "€"
        //     decode("&lt;")     --> "<"
        //     decode("&foo;")    --> nil
        func decode(_ entity : String) -> Character? {

            if entity.hasPrefix("&#x") || entity.hasPrefix("&#X"){
                return decodeNumeric(entity.substring(with: entity.index(entity.startIndex, offsetBy: 3) ..< entity.index(entity.endIndex, offsetBy: -1)), base: 16)
            } else if entity.hasPrefix("&#") {
                return decodeNumeric(entity.substring(with: entity.index(entity.startIndex, offsetBy: 2) ..< entity.index(entity.endIndex, offsetBy: -1)), base: 10)
            } else {
                return characterEntities[entity]
            }
        }

        // ===== Method starts here =====

        var result = ""
        var position = startIndex

        // Find the next '&' and copy the characters preceding it to `result`:
        while let ampRange = self.range(of: "&", range: position ..< endIndex) {
            result.append(self[position ..< ampRange.lowerBound])
            position = ampRange.lowerBound

            // Find the next ';' and copy everything from '&' to ';' into `entity`
            if let semiRange = self.range(of: ";", range: position ..< endIndex) {
                let entity = self[position ..< semiRange.upperBound]
                position = semiRange.upperBound

                if let decoded = decode(entity) {
                    // Replace by decoded character:
                    result.append(decoded)
                } else {
                    // Invalid entity, copy verbatim:
                    result.append(entity)
                }
            } else {
                // No matching ';'.
                break
            }
        }
        // Copy remaining characters to `result`:
        result.append(self[position ..< endIndex])
        return result
    }
}

---

Swift 2:

// Mapping from XML/HTML character entity reference to character
// From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_XML_and_HTML_character_entity_references
private let characterEntities : [ String : Character ] = [
    // XML predefined entities:
    """    : "\"",
    "&"     : "&",
    "'"    : "'",
    "&lt;"      : "<",
    "&gt;"      : ">",

    // HTML character entity references:
    "&nbsp;"    : "\u{00a0}",
    // ...
    "&diams;"   : "♦",
]

extension String {

    /// Returns a new string made by replacing in the `String`
    /// all HTML character entity references with the corresponding
    /// character.
    var stringByDecodingHTMLEntities : String {

        // ===== Utility functions =====

        // Convert the number in the string to the corresponding
        // Unicode character, e.g.
        //    decodeNumeric("64", 10)   --> "@"
        //    decodeNumeric("20ac", 16) --> "€"
        func decodeNumeric(string : String, base : Int32) -> Character? {
            let code = UInt32(strtoul(string, nil, base))
            return Character(UnicodeScalar(code))
        }

        // Decode the HTML character entity to the corresponding
        // Unicode character, return `nil` for invalid input.
        //     decode("&#64;")    --> "@"
        //     decode("&#x20ac;") --> "€"
        //     decode("&lt;")     --> "<"
        //     decode("&foo;")    --> nil
        func decode(entity : String) -> Character? {

            if entity.hasPrefix("&#x") || entity.hasPrefix("&#X"){
                return decodeNumeric(entity.substringFromIndex(entity.startIndex.advancedBy(3)), base: 16)
            } else if entity.hasPrefix("&#") {
                return decodeNumeric(entity.substringFromIndex(entity.startIndex.advancedBy(2)), base: 10)
            } else {
                return characterEntities[entity]
            }
        }

        // ===== Method starts here =====

        var result = ""
        var position = startIndex

        // Find the next '&' and copy the characters preceding it to `result`:
        while let ampRange = self.rangeOfString("&", range: position ..< endIndex) {
            result.appendContentsOf(self[position ..< ampRange.startIndex])
            position = ampRange.startIndex

            // Find the next ';' and copy everything from '&' to ';' into `entity`
            if let semiRange = self.rangeOfString(";", range: position ..< endIndex) {
                let entity = self[position ..< semiRange.endIndex]
                position = semiRange.endIndex

                if let decoded = decode(entity) {
                    // Replace by decoded character:
                    result.append(decoded)
                } else {
                    // Invalid entity, copy verbatim:
                    result.appendContentsOf(entity)
                }
            } else {
                // No matching ';'.
                break
            }
        }
        // Copy remaining characters to `result`:
        result.appendContentsOf(self[position ..< endIndex])
        return result
    }
}

Swift 4

---

• String extension computed variable
• Without extra guard, do, catch, etc...
• Returns the original strings if decoding fails

---

extension String {
    var htmlDecoded: String {
        let decoded = try? NSAttributedString(data: Data(utf8), options: [
            .documentType: NSAttributedString.DocumentType.html,
            .characterEncoding: String.Encoding.utf8.rawValue
        ], documentAttributes: nil).string

        return decoded ?? self
    }
}

Swift 3 version of @akashivskyy's extension,

extension String {
    init(htmlEncodedString: String) {
        self.init()
        guard let encodedData = htmlEncodedString.data(using: .utf8) else {
            self = htmlEncodedString
            return
        }

        let attributedOptions: [String : Any] = [
            NSDocumentTypeDocumentAttribute: NSHTMLTextDocumentType,
            NSCharacterEncodingDocumentAttribute: String.Encoding.utf8.rawValue
        ]

        do {
            let attributedString = try NSAttributedString(data: encodedData, options: attributedOptions, documentAttributes: nil)
            self = attributedString.string
        } catch {
            print("Error: \(error)")
            self = htmlEncodedString
        }
    }
}

Swift 2 version of @akashivskyy's extension,

 extension String {
     init(htmlEncodedString: String) {
         if let encodedData = htmlEncodedString.dataUsingEncoding(NSUTF8StringEncoding){
             let attributedOptions : [String: AnyObject] = [
            NSDocumentTypeDocumentAttribute: NSHTMLTextDocumentType,
            NSCharacterEncodingDocumentAttribute: NSUTF8StringEncoding
        ]

             do{
                 if let attributedString:NSAttributedString = try NSAttributedString(data: encodedData, options: attributedOptions, documentAttributes: nil){
                     self.init(attributedString.string)
                 }else{
                     print("error")
                     self.init(htmlEncodedString)     //Returning actual string if there is an error
                 }
             }catch{
                 print("error: \(error)")
                 self.init(htmlEncodedString)     //Returning actual string if there is an error
             }

         }else{
             self.init(htmlEncodedString)     //Returning actual string if there is an error
         }
     }
 }

Swift 4 Version

extension String {

    init(htmlEncodedString: String) {
        self.init()
        guard let encodedData = htmlEncodedString.data(using: .utf8) else {
            self = htmlEncodedString
            return
        }

        let attributedOptions: [NSAttributedString.DocumentReadingOptionKey : Any] = [
            .documentType: NSAttributedString.DocumentType.html,
            .characterEncoding: String.Encoding.utf8.rawValue
        ]

        do {
            let attributedString = try NSAttributedString(data: encodedData, options: attributedOptions, documentAttributes: nil)
            self = attributedString.string
        } 
        catch {
            print("Error: \(error)")
            self = htmlEncodedString
        }
    }
}