How to convert HEX RGB color codes to UIColor?

Question

I have an RGB hex code like #ffffff as NSString and want to convert that into an UIColor. Is there a simple way to do that?

Answer 1

In some code of mine, I use 2 different functions:

void SKScanHexColor(NSString * hexString, float * red, float * green, float * blue, float * alpha) {   NSString *cleanString = [hexString stringByReplacingOccurrencesOfString:@"#" withString:@""];   if([cleanString length] == 3) {       cleanString = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"%@%@%@%@%@%@",                       [cleanString substringWithRange:NSMakeRange(0, 1)],[cleanString substringWithRange:NSMakeRange(0, 1)],                      [cleanString substringWithRange:NSMakeRange(1, 1)],[cleanString substringWithRange:NSMakeRange(1, 1)],                      [cleanString substringWithRange:NSMakeRange(2, 1)],[cleanString substringWithRange:NSMakeRange(2, 1)]];   }   if([cleanString length] == 6) {       cleanString = [cleanString stringByAppendingString:@"ff"];   }    unsigned int baseValue;   [[NSScanner scannerWithString:cleanString] scanHexInt:&baseValue];    if (red) { *red = ((baseValue >> 24) & 0xFF)/255.0f; }   if (green) { *green = ((baseValue >> 16) & 0xFF)/255.0f; }   if (blue) { *blue = ((baseValue >> 8) & 0xFF)/255.0f; }   if (alpha) { *alpha = ((baseValue >> 0) & 0xFF)/255.0f; } } 

And then I use it like this:

UIColor * SKColorFromHexString(NSString * hexString) {   float red, green, blue, alpha;   SKScanHexColor(hexString, &red, &green, &blue, &alpha);    return [UIColor colorWithRed:red green:green blue:blue alpha:alpha]; } 

If you prefer to use this as a UIColor category, then it's just a matter of altering a few lines:

+ (UIColor *) colorFromHexString:(NSString *)hexString {   NSString *cleanString = [hexString stringByReplacingOccurrencesOfString:@"#" withString:@""];   if([cleanString length] == 3) {       cleanString = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"%@%@%@%@%@%@",                       [cleanString substringWithRange:NSMakeRange(0, 1)],[cleanString substringWithRange:NSMakeRange(0, 1)],                      [cleanString substringWithRange:NSMakeRange(1, 1)],[cleanString substringWithRange:NSMakeRange(1, 1)],                      [cleanString substringWithRange:NSMakeRange(2, 1)],[cleanString substringWithRange:NSMakeRange(2, 1)]];   }   if([cleanString length] == 6) {       cleanString = [cleanString stringByAppendingString:@"ff"];   }    unsigned int baseValue;   [[NSScanner scannerWithString:cleanString] scanHexInt:&baseValue];    float red = ((baseValue >> 24) & 0xFF)/255.0f;   float green = ((baseValue >> 16) & 0xFF)/255.0f;   float blue = ((baseValue >> 8) & 0xFF)/255.0f;   float alpha = ((baseValue >> 0) & 0xFF)/255.0f;    return [UIColor colorWithRed:red green:green blue:blue alpha:alpha]; } 

This will handle strings like "#abc", "#abcdef31", etc.