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Base64-encoding strings in Swift is very easy. You just have to convert the string to data, then encode that data with base64EncodedString() : let string = "Let's encode this string" let encoded = string. data(using: . utf8)?.
Encoding class provides methods to convert String to Base64 and vice-versa. First convert the string to a byte array and then use the Convert. ToBase64String() method to convert the byte array to a Base64 string.
This is a good use case for Objective C categories.
For Base64 encoding:
#import <Foundation/NSString.h>
@interface NSString (NSStringAdditions)
+ (NSString *) base64StringFromData:(NSData *)data length:(int)length;
@end
-------------------------------------------
#import "NSStringAdditions.h"
static char base64EncodingTable[64] = {
'A', 'B', 'C', 'D', 'E', 'F', 'G', 'H', 'I', 'J', 'K', 'L', 'M', 'N', 'O', 'P',
'Q', 'R', 'S', 'T', 'U', 'V', 'W', 'X', 'Y', 'Z', 'a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e', 'f',
'g', 'h', 'i', 'j', 'k', 'l', 'm', 'n', 'o', 'p', 'q', 'r', 's', 't', 'u', 'v',
'w', 'x', 'y', 'z', '0', '1', '2', '3', '4', '5', '6', '7', '8', '9', '+', '/'
};
@implementation NSString (NSStringAdditions)
+ (NSString *) base64StringFromData: (NSData *)data length: (int)length {
unsigned long ixtext, lentext;
long ctremaining;
unsigned char input[3], output[4];
short i, charsonline = 0, ctcopy;
const unsigned char *raw;
NSMutableString *result;
lentext = [data length];
if (lentext < 1)
return @"";
result = [NSMutableString stringWithCapacity: lentext];
raw = [data bytes];
ixtext = 0;
while (true) {
ctremaining = lentext - ixtext;
if (ctremaining <= 0)
break;
for (i = 0; i < 3; i++) {
unsigned long ix = ixtext + i;
if (ix < lentext)
input[i] = raw[ix];
else
input[i] = 0;
}
output[0] = (input[0] & 0xFC) >> 2;
output[1] = ((input[0] & 0x03) << 4) | ((input[1] & 0xF0) >> 4);
output[2] = ((input[1] & 0x0F) << 2) | ((input[2] & 0xC0) >> 6);
output[3] = input[2] & 0x3F;
ctcopy = 4;
switch (ctremaining) {
case 1:
ctcopy = 2;
break;
case 2:
ctcopy = 3;
break;
}
for (i = 0; i < ctcopy; i++)
[result appendString: [NSString stringWithFormat: @"%c", base64EncodingTable[output[i]]]];
for (i = ctcopy; i < 4; i++)
[result appendString: @"="];
ixtext += 3;
charsonline += 4;
if ((length > 0) && (charsonline >= length))
charsonline = 0;
}
return result;
}
@end
For Base64 decoding:
#import <Foundation/Foundation.h>
@class NSString;
@interface NSData (NSDataAdditions)
+ (NSData *) base64DataFromString:(NSString *)string;
@end
-------------------------------------------
#import "NSDataAdditions.h"
@implementation NSData (NSDataAdditions)
+ (NSData *)base64DataFromString: (NSString *)string
{
unsigned long ixtext, lentext;
unsigned char ch, inbuf[4], outbuf[3];
short i, ixinbuf;
Boolean flignore, flendtext = false;
const unsigned char *tempcstring;
NSMutableData *theData;
if (string == nil)
{
return [NSData data];
}
ixtext = 0;
tempcstring = (const unsigned char *)[string UTF8String];
lentext = [string length];
theData = [NSMutableData dataWithCapacity: lentext];
ixinbuf = 0;
while (true)
{
if (ixtext >= lentext)
{
break;
}
ch = tempcstring [ixtext++];
flignore = false;
if ((ch >= 'A') && (ch <= 'Z'))
{
ch = ch - 'A';
}
else if ((ch >= 'a') && (ch <= 'z'))
{
ch = ch - 'a' + 26;
}
else if ((ch >= '0') && (ch <= '9'))
{
ch = ch - '0' + 52;
}
else if (ch == '+')
{
ch = 62;
}
else if (ch == '=')
{
flendtext = true;
}
else if (ch == '/')
{
ch = 63;
}
else
{
flignore = true;
}
if (!flignore)
{
short ctcharsinbuf = 3;
Boolean flbreak = false;
if (flendtext)
{
if (ixinbuf == 0)
{
break;
}
if ((ixinbuf == 1) || (ixinbuf == 2))
{
ctcharsinbuf = 1;
}
else
{
ctcharsinbuf = 2;
}
ixinbuf = 3;
flbreak = true;
}
inbuf [ixinbuf++] = ch;
if (ixinbuf == 4)
{
ixinbuf = 0;
outbuf[0] = (inbuf[0] << 2) | ((inbuf[1] & 0x30) >> 4);
outbuf[1] = ((inbuf[1] & 0x0F) << 4) | ((inbuf[2] & 0x3C) >> 2);
outbuf[2] = ((inbuf[2] & 0x03) << 6) | (inbuf[3] & 0x3F);
for (i = 0; i < ctcharsinbuf; i++)
{
[theData appendBytes: &outbuf[i] length: 1];
}
}
if (flbreak)
{
break;
}
}
}
return theData;
}
@end
A really, really fast implementation which was ported (and modified/improved) from the PHP Core library into native Objective-C code is available in the QSStrings Class from the QSUtilities Library. I did a quick benchmark: a 5.3MB image (JPEG) file took < 50ms to encode, and about 140ms to decode.
The code for the entire library (including the Base64 Methods) are available on GitHub.
Or alternatively, if you want the code to just the Base64 methods themselves, I've posted it here:
First, you need the mapping tables:
static const char _base64EncodingTable[64] = "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789+/";
static const short _base64DecodingTable[256] = {
-2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -1, -1, -2, -1, -1, -2, -2,
-2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2,
-1, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, 62, -2, -2, -2, 63,
52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2,
-2, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14,
15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2,
-2, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40,
41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2,
-2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2,
-2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2,
-2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2,
-2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2,
-2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2,
-2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2,
-2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2,
-2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2
};
To Encode:
+ (NSString *)encodeBase64WithString:(NSString *)strData {
return [QSStrings encodeBase64WithData:[strData dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
}
+ (NSString *)encodeBase64WithData:(NSData *)objData {
const unsigned char * objRawData = [objData bytes];
char * objPointer;
char * strResult;
// Get the Raw Data length and ensure we actually have data
int intLength = [objData length];
if (intLength == 0) return nil;
// Setup the String-based Result placeholder and pointer within that placeholder
strResult = (char *)calloc((((intLength + 2) / 3) * 4) + 1, sizeof(char));
objPointer = strResult;
// Iterate through everything
while (intLength > 2) { // keep going until we have less than 24 bits
*objPointer++ = _base64EncodingTable[objRawData[0] >> 2];
*objPointer++ = _base64EncodingTable[((objRawData[0] & 0x03) << 4) + (objRawData[1] >> 4)];
*objPointer++ = _base64EncodingTable[((objRawData[1] & 0x0f) << 2) + (objRawData[2] >> 6)];
*objPointer++ = _base64EncodingTable[objRawData[2] & 0x3f];
// we just handled 3 octets (24 bits) of data
objRawData += 3;
intLength -= 3;
}
// now deal with the tail end of things
if (intLength != 0) {
*objPointer++ = _base64EncodingTable[objRawData[0] >> 2];
if (intLength > 1) {
*objPointer++ = _base64EncodingTable[((objRawData[0] & 0x03) << 4) + (objRawData[1] >> 4)];
*objPointer++ = _base64EncodingTable[(objRawData[1] & 0x0f) << 2];
*objPointer++ = '=';
} else {
*objPointer++ = _base64EncodingTable[(objRawData[0] & 0x03) << 4];
*objPointer++ = '=';
*objPointer++ = '=';
}
}
// Terminate the string-based result
*objPointer = '\0';
// Create result NSString object
NSString *base64String = [NSString stringWithCString:strResult encoding:NSASCIIStringEncoding];
// Free memory
free(strResult);
return base64String;
}
To Decode:
+ (NSData *)decodeBase64WithString:(NSString *)strBase64 {
const char *objPointer = [strBase64 cStringUsingEncoding:NSASCIIStringEncoding];
size_t intLength = strlen(objPointer);
int intCurrent;
int i = 0, j = 0, k;
unsigned char *objResult = calloc(intLength, sizeof(unsigned char));
// Run through the whole string, converting as we go
while ( ((intCurrent = *objPointer++) != '\0') && (intLength-- > 0) ) {
if (intCurrent == '=') {
if (*objPointer != '=' && ((i % 4) == 1)) {// || (intLength > 0)) {
// the padding character is invalid at this point -- so this entire string is invalid
free(objResult);
return nil;
}
continue;
}
intCurrent = _base64DecodingTable[intCurrent];
if (intCurrent == -1) {
// we're at a whitespace -- simply skip over
continue;
} else if (intCurrent == -2) {
// we're at an invalid character
free(objResult);
return nil;
}
switch (i % 4) {
case 0:
objResult[j] = intCurrent << 2;
break;
case 1:
objResult[j++] |= intCurrent >> 4;
objResult[j] = (intCurrent & 0x0f) << 4;
break;
case 2:
objResult[j++] |= intCurrent >>2;
objResult[j] = (intCurrent & 0x03) << 6;
break;
case 3:
objResult[j++] |= intCurrent;
break;
}
i++;
}
// mop things up if we ended on a boundary
k = j;
if (intCurrent == '=') {
switch (i % 4) {
case 1:
// Invalid state
free(objResult);
return nil;
case 2:
k++;
// flow through
case 3:
objResult[k] = 0;
}
}
// Cleanup and setup the return NSData
NSData * objData = [[[NSData alloc] initWithBytes:objResult length:j] autorelease];
free(objResult);
return objData;
}
At the time this question was originally posted, people were understandably directing you to third-party base 64 libraries because of the lack of any native routines. But iOS 7 introduced base 64 encoding routines (which actually simply just exposes private methods iOS had going back to iOS 4).
So, you can use the NSData method base64EncodedStringWithOptions: to create a base-64 string from a NSData.
NSString *string = [data base64EncodedStringWithOptions:kNilOptions];
And you can use initWithBase64EncodedString:options: to convert a base-64 string back to a NSData:
NSData *data = [[NSData alloc] initWithBase64EncodedString:string options:kNilOptions];
Or, in Swift:
let string = data.base64EncodedString()
And
let data = Data(base64Encoded: string)
iOS includes built in support for base64 encoding and decoding. If you look at resolv.h you should see the two functions b64_ntop and b64_pton . The Square SocketRocket library provides a reasonable example of how to use these functions from objective-c.
These functions are pretty well tested and reliable - unlike many of the implementations you may find in random internet postings.
Don't forget to link against libresolv.dylib.
Since this seems to be the number one google hit on base64 encoding and iphone, I felt like sharing my experience with the code snippet above.
It works, but it is extremely slow. A benchmark on a random image (0.4 mb) took 37 seconds on native iphone. The main reason is probably all the OOP magic - single char NSStrings etc, which are only autoreleased after the encoding is done.
Another suggestion posted here (ab)uses the openssl library, which feels like overkill as well.
The code below takes 70 ms - that's a 500 times speedup. This only does base64 encoding (decoding will follow as soon as I encounter it)
+ (NSString *) base64StringFromData: (NSData *)data length: (int)length {
int lentext = [data length];
if (lentext < 1) return @"";
char *outbuf = malloc(lentext*4/3+4); // add 4 to be sure
if ( !outbuf ) return nil;
const unsigned char *raw = [data bytes];
int inp = 0;
int outp = 0;
int do_now = lentext - (lentext%3);
for ( outp = 0, inp = 0; inp < do_now; inp += 3 )
{
outbuf[outp++] = base64EncodingTable[(raw[inp] & 0xFC) >> 2];
outbuf[outp++] = base64EncodingTable[((raw[inp] & 0x03) << 4) | ((raw[inp+1] & 0xF0) >> 4)];
outbuf[outp++] = base64EncodingTable[((raw[inp+1] & 0x0F) << 2) | ((raw[inp+2] & 0xC0) >> 6)];
outbuf[outp++] = base64EncodingTable[raw[inp+2] & 0x3F];
}
if ( do_now < lentext )
{
char tmpbuf[2] = {0,0};
int left = lentext%3;
for ( int i=0; i < left; i++ )
{
tmpbuf[i] = raw[do_now+i];
}
raw = tmpbuf;
outbuf[outp++] = base64EncodingTable[(raw[inp] & 0xFC) >> 2];
outbuf[outp++] = base64EncodingTable[((raw[inp] & 0x03) << 4) | ((raw[inp+1] & 0xF0) >> 4)];
if ( left == 2 ) outbuf[outp++] = base64EncodingTable[((raw[inp+1] & 0x0F) << 2) | ((raw[inp+2] & 0xC0) >> 6)];
}
NSString *ret = [[[NSString alloc] initWithBytes:outbuf length:outp encoding:NSASCIIStringEncoding] autorelease];
free(outbuf);
return ret;
}
I left out the line-cutting since I didn't need it, but it's trivial to add.
For those who are interested in optimizing: the goal is to minimize what happens in the main loop. Therefore all logic to deal with the last 3 bytes is treated outside the loop.
Also, try to work on data in-place, without additional copying to/from buffers. And reduce any arithmetic to the bare minimum.
Observe that the bits that are put together to look up an entry in the table, would not overlap when they were to be orred together without shifting. A major improvement could therefore be to use 4 separate 256 byte lookup tables and eliminate the shifts, like this:
outbuf[outp++] = base64EncodingTable1[(raw[inp] & 0xFC)];
outbuf[outp++] = base64EncodingTable2[(raw[inp] & 0x03) | (raw[inp+1] & 0xF0)];
outbuf[outp++] = base64EncodingTable3[(raw[inp+1] & 0x0F) | (raw[inp+2] & 0xC0)];
outbuf[outp++] = base64EncodingTable4[raw[inp+2] & 0x3F];
Of course you could take it a whole lot further, but that's beyond the scope here.
In mvds's excellent improvement, there are two problems. Change code to this:
raw = tmpbuf;
inp = 0;
outbuf[outp++] = base64EncodingTable[(raw[inp] & 0xFC) >> 2];
outbuf[outp++] = base64EncodingTable[((raw[inp] & 0x03) << 4) | ((raw[inp+1] & 0xF0) >> 4)];
if ( left == 2 ) outbuf[outp++] = base64EncodingTable[((raw[inp+1] & 0x0F) << 2) | ((raw[inp+2] & 0xC0) >> 6)];
else outbuf[outp++] = '=';
outbuf[outp++] = '=';
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