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've found the simplest way to do this is with a macro. Just include it in your header and it's available throughout your project.

#define UIColorFromRGB(rgbValue) [UIColor colorWithRed:((float)((rgbValue & 0xFF0000) >> 16))/255.0 green:((float)((rgbValue & 0xFF00) >> 8))/255.0 blue:((float)(rgbValue & 0xFF))/255.0 alpha:1.0]

uicolor macro with hex values

Also formatted version of this code:

#define UIColorFromRGB(rgbValue) \
[UIColor colorWithRed:((float)((rgbValue & 0xFF0000) >> 16))/255.0 \
                green:((float)((rgbValue & 0x00FF00) >>  8))/255.0 \
                 blue:((float)((rgbValue & 0x0000FF) >>  0))/255.0 \
                alpha:1.0]

Usage:

label.textColor = UIColorFromRGB(0xBC1128);

Swift:

static func UIColorFromRGB(_ rgbValue: Int) -> UIColor! {
    return UIColor(
        red: CGFloat((Float((rgbValue & 0xff0000) >> 16)) / 255.0),
        green: CGFloat((Float((rgbValue & 0x00ff00) >> 8)) / 255.0),
        blue: CGFloat((Float((rgbValue & 0x0000ff) >> 0)) / 255.0),
        alpha: 1.0)
}

Answer 2

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 3

I've got a solution that is 100% compatible with the hex format strings used by Android, which I found very helpful when doing cross-platform mobile development. It lets me use one color palate for both platforms. Feel free to reuse without attribution, or under the Apache license if you prefer.

#import "UIColor+HexString.h"

@interface UIColor(HexString)

+ (UIColor *) colorWithHexString: (NSString *) hexString;
+ (CGFloat) colorComponentFrom: (NSString *) string start: (NSUInteger) start length: (NSUInteger) length;

@end


@implementation UIColor(HexString)

+ (UIColor *) colorWithHexString: (NSString *) hexString {
    NSString *colorString = [[hexString stringByReplacingOccurrencesOfString: @"#" withString: @""] uppercaseString];
    CGFloat alpha, red, blue, green;
    switch ([colorString length]) {
        case 3: // #RGB
            alpha = 1.0f;
            red   = [self colorComponentFrom: colorString start: 0 length: 1];
            green = [self colorComponentFrom: colorString start: 1 length: 1];
            blue  = [self colorComponentFrom: colorString start: 2 length: 1];
            break;
        case 4: // #ARGB
            alpha = [self colorComponentFrom: colorString start: 0 length: 1];
            red   = [self colorComponentFrom: colorString start: 1 length: 1];
            green = [self colorComponentFrom: colorString start: 2 length: 1];
            blue  = [self colorComponentFrom: colorString start: 3 length: 1];          
            break;
        case 6: // #RRGGBB
            alpha = 1.0f;
            red   = [self colorComponentFrom: colorString start: 0 length: 2];
            green = [self colorComponentFrom: colorString start: 2 length: 2];
            blue  = [self colorComponentFrom: colorString start: 4 length: 2];                      
            break;
        case 8: // #AARRGGBB
            alpha = [self colorComponentFrom: colorString start: 0 length: 2];
            red   = [self colorComponentFrom: colorString start: 2 length: 2];
            green = [self colorComponentFrom: colorString start: 4 length: 2];
            blue  = [self colorComponentFrom: colorString start: 6 length: 2];                      
            break;
        default:
            [NSException raise:@"Invalid color value" format: @"Color value %@ is invalid.  It should be a hex value of the form #RBG, #ARGB, #RRGGBB, or #AARRGGBB", hexString];
            break;
    }
    return [UIColor colorWithRed: red green: green blue: blue alpha: alpha];
}

+ (CGFloat) colorComponentFrom: (NSString *) string start: (NSUInteger) start length: (NSUInteger) length {
    NSString *substring = [string substringWithRange: NSMakeRange(start, length)];
    NSString *fullHex = length == 2 ? substring : [NSString stringWithFormat: @"%@%@", substring, substring];
    unsigned hexComponent;
    [[NSScanner scannerWithString: fullHex] scanHexInt: &hexComponent];
    return hexComponent / 255.0;
}

@end 

Swift:

extension UIColor {
    convenience init?(hexString: String?) {
        let input: String! = (hexString ?? "")
            .replacingOccurrences(of: "#", with: "")
            .uppercased()
        var alpha: CGFloat = 1.0
        var red: CGFloat = 0
        var blue: CGFloat = 0
        var green: CGFloat = 0
        switch (input.count) {
        case 3 /* #RGB */:
            red = Self.colorComponent(from: input, start: 0, length: 1)
            green = Self.colorComponent(from: input, start: 1, length: 1)
            blue = Self.colorComponent(from: input, start: 2, length: 1)
            break
        case 4 /* #ARGB */:
            alpha = Self.colorComponent(from: input, start: 0, length: 1)
            red = Self.colorComponent(from: input, start: 1, length: 1)
            green = Self.colorComponent(from: input, start: 2, length: 1)
            blue = Self.colorComponent(from: input, start: 3, length: 1)
            break
        case 6 /* #RRGGBB */:
            red = Self.colorComponent(from: input, start: 0, length: 2)
            green = Self.colorComponent(from: input, start: 2, length: 2)
            blue = Self.colorComponent(from: input, start: 4, length: 2)
            break
        case 8 /* #AARRGGBB */:
            alpha = Self.colorComponent(from: input, start: 0, length: 2)
            red = Self.colorComponent(from: input, start: 2, length: 2)
            green = Self.colorComponent(from: input, start: 4, length: 2)
            blue = Self.colorComponent(from: input, start: 6, length: 2)
            break
        default:
            NSException.raise(NSExceptionName("Invalid color value"), format: "Color value \"%@\" is invalid.  It should be a hex value of the form #RBG, #ARGB, #RRGGBB, or #AARRGGBB", arguments:getVaList([hexString ?? ""]))
        }
        self.init(red: red, green: green, blue: blue, alpha: alpha)
    }
    
    static func colorComponent(from string: String!, start: Int, length: Int) -> CGFloat {
        let substring = (string as NSString)
            .substring(with: NSRange(location: start, length: length))
        let fullHex = length == 2 ? substring : "\(substring)\(substring)"
        var hexComponent: UInt64 = 0
        Scanner(string: fullHex)
            .scanHexInt64(&hexComponent)
        return CGFloat(Double(hexComponent) / 255.0)
    }
}

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

This is a function that takes a hex string and returns a UIColor.
(You can enter hex strings with either format: #ffffff or ffffff)

Usage:

var color1 = hexStringToUIColor("#d3d3d3")

Swift 4:

func hexStringToUIColor (hex:String) -> UIColor {
    var cString:String = hex.trimmingCharacters(in: .whitespacesAndNewlines).uppercased()

    if (cString.hasPrefix("#")) {
        cString.remove(at: cString.startIndex)
    }

    if ((cString.count) != 6) {
        return UIColor.gray
    }

    var rgbValue:UInt32 = 0
    Scanner(string: cString).scanHexInt32(&rgbValue)

    return UIColor(
        red: CGFloat((rgbValue & 0xFF0000) >> 16) / 255.0,
        green: CGFloat((rgbValue & 0x00FF00) >> 8) / 255.0,
        blue: CGFloat(rgbValue & 0x0000FF) / 255.0,
        alpha: CGFloat(1.0)
    )
}

Swift 3:

func hexStringToUIColor (hex:String) -> UIColor {
    var cString:String = hex.trimmingCharacters(in: .whitespacesAndNewlines).uppercased()

    if (cString.hasPrefix("#")) {
        cString.remove(at: cString.startIndex)
    }

    if ((cString.characters.count) != 6) {
        return UIColor.gray
    }

    var rgbValue:UInt32 = 0
    Scanner(string: cString).scanHexInt32(&rgbValue)

    return UIColor(
        red: CGFloat((rgbValue & 0xFF0000) >> 16) / 255.0,
        green: CGFloat((rgbValue & 0x00FF00) >> 8) / 255.0,
        blue: CGFloat(rgbValue & 0x0000FF) / 255.0,
        alpha: CGFloat(1.0)
    )
}

Swift 2:

func hexStringToUIColor (hex:String) -> UIColor {
    var cString:String = hex.stringByTrimmingCharactersInSet(NSCharacterSet.whitespaceAndNewlineCharacterSet() as NSCharacterSet).uppercaseString

    if (cString.hasPrefix("#")) {
      cString = cString.substringFromIndex(cString.startIndex.advancedBy(1))
    }

    if ((cString.characters.count) != 6) {
      return UIColor.grayColor()
    }

    var rgbValue:UInt32 = 0
    NSScanner(string: cString).scanHexInt(&rgbValue)

    return UIColor(
        red: CGFloat((rgbValue & 0xFF0000) >> 16) / 255.0,
        green: CGFloat((rgbValue & 0x00FF00) >> 8) / 255.0,
        blue: CGFloat(rgbValue & 0x0000FF) / 255.0,
        alpha: CGFloat(1.0)
    )
}

---

Source: arshad/gist:de147c42d7b3063ef7bc

Answer 6

Use this Category :

in the file UIColor+Hexadecimal.h

#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>

@interface UIColor(Hexadecimal)

+ (UIColor *)colorWithHexString:(NSString *)hexString;

@end

in the file UIColor+Hexadecimal.m

#import "UIColor+Hexadecimal.h"

@implementation UIColor(Hexadecimal)

+ (UIColor *)colorWithHexString:(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];
}

@end

---

In Class you want use it :

#import "UIColor+Hexadecimal.h"

and:

[UIColor colorWithHexString:@"#6e4b4b"];

Answer 7

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)

Answer 8

A great Swift implementation (updated for Xcode 7) using extensions, pulled together from a variety of different answers and places. You will also need the string extensions at the end.

Use:

let hexColor = UIColor(hex: "#00FF00")

NOTE: I added an option for 2 additional digits to the end of the standard 6 digit hex value for an alpha channel (pass in value of 00-99). If this offends you, just remove it. You could implement it to pass in an optional alpha parameter.

Extension:

extension UIColor {

    convenience init(var hex: String) {
        var alpha: Float = 100
        let hexLength = hex.characters.count
        if !(hexLength == 7 || hexLength == 9) {
            // A hex must be either 7 or 9 characters (#RRGGBBAA)
            print("improper call to 'colorFromHex', hex length must be 7 or 9 chars (#GGRRBBAA)")
            self.init(white: 0, alpha: 1)
            return
        }

        if hexLength == 9 {
            // Note: this uses String subscripts as given below
            alpha = hex[7...8].floatValue
            hex = hex[0...6]
        }

        // Establishing the rgb color
        var rgb: UInt32 = 0
        let s: NSScanner = NSScanner(string: hex)
        // Setting the scan location to ignore the leading `#`
        s.scanLocation = 1
        // Scanning the int into the rgb colors
        s.scanHexInt(&rgb)

        // Creating the UIColor from hex int
        self.init(
            red: CGFloat((rgb & 0xFF0000) >> 16) / 255.0,
            green: CGFloat((rgb & 0x00FF00) >> 8) / 255.0,
            blue: CGFloat(rgb & 0x0000FF) / 255.0,
            alpha: CGFloat(alpha / 100)
        )
    }
}

String extensions:
Float source
Subscript source

extension String {

    /**
    Returns the float value of a string
    */
    var floatValue: Float {
        return (self as NSString).floatValue
    }

    /**
    Subscript to allow for quick String substrings ["Hello"][0...1] = "He"
    */
    subscript (r: Range<Int>) -> String {
        get {
            let start = self.startIndex.advancedBy(r.startIndex)
            let end = self.startIndex.advancedBy(r.endIndex - 1)
            return self.substringWithRange(start..<end)
        }
    }
}

Answer 9

There is no builtin conversion from a hexadecimal string to a UIColor (or CGColor) that I'm aware of. However, you can easily write a couple of functions for this purpose - for example, see iphone development accessing uicolor components

Answer 10

extension UIColor {
    convenience init(hexaString: String, alpha: CGFloat = 1) {
        let chars = Array(hexaString.dropFirst())
        self.init(red:   .init(strtoul(String(chars[0...1]),nil,16))/255,
                  green: .init(strtoul(String(chars[2...3]),nil,16))/255,
                  blue:  .init(strtoul(String(chars[4...5]),nil,16))/255,
                  alpha: alpha)}
}

---

Usage:

let redColor       = UIColor(hexaString: "#FF0000")              // r 1,0 g 0,0 b 0,0 a 1,0
let transparentRed = UIColor(hexaString: "#FF0000", alpha: 0.5)  // r 1,0 g 0,0 b 0,0 a 0,5

---

---

Another option is to convert the hexavalue to an unsigned integer and extract the corresponding values from it:

extension UIColor {
    convenience init(hexaString: String, alpha: CGFloat = 1) {
        self.init(hexa: UInt(hexaString.dropFirst(), radix: 16) ?? 0, alpha: alpha)
    }
    convenience init(hexa: UInt, alpha: CGFloat = 1) {
        self.init(red:   .init((hexa & 0xff0000) >> 16) / 255,
                  green: .init((hexa & 0xff00  ) >>  8) / 255,
                  blue:  .init( hexa & 0xff    )        / 255,
                  alpha: alpha)
    }
}

---

let purpleColor       = UIColor(hexaString: "#FF00FF")    // r 1,0 g 0,0 b 1,0 a 1,0
let transparentYellow = UIColor(hexaString: "#FFFF00", alpha: 0.5)  // r 1,0 g 1,0 b 0,0 a 0,5

Answer 11

I found a good UIColor category for this, UIColor+PXExtensions.

Usage: UIColor *mycolor = [UIColor pxColorWithHexValue:@"#BADA55"];

And, just in case the link to my gist fails, here is the actual implementation code:

//
//  UIColor+PXExtensions.m
//

#import "UIColor+UIColor_PXExtensions.h"

@implementation UIColor (UIColor_PXExtensions)

+ (UIColor*)pxColorWithHexValue:(NSString*)hexValue
{
    //Default
    UIColor *defaultResult = [UIColor blackColor];

    //Strip prefixed # hash
    if ([hexValue hasPrefix:@"#"] && [hexValue length] > 1) {
        hexValue = [hexValue substringFromIndex:1];
    }

    //Determine if 3 or 6 digits
    NSUInteger componentLength = 0;
    if ([hexValue length] == 3)
    {
        componentLength = 1;
    }
    else if ([hexValue length] == 6)
    {
        componentLength = 2;
    }
    else
    {
        return defaultResult;
    }

    BOOL isValid = YES;
    CGFloat components[3];

    //Seperate the R,G,B values
    for (NSUInteger i = 0; i < 3; i++) {
        NSString *component = [hexValue substringWithRange:NSMakeRange(componentLength * i, componentLength)];
        if (componentLength == 1) {
            component = [component stringByAppendingString:component];
        }
        NSScanner *scanner = [NSScanner scannerWithString:component];
        unsigned int value;
        isValid &= [scanner scanHexInt:&value];
        components[i] = (CGFloat)value / 256.0f;
    }

    if (!isValid) {
        return defaultResult;
    }

    return [UIColor colorWithRed:components[0]
                           green:components[1]
                            blue:components[2]
                           alpha:1.0];
}

@end

Answer 12

swift version. Use as a Function or an Extension.

  func UIColorFromRGB(colorCode: String, alpha: Float = 1.0) -> UIColor{
    var scanner = NSScanner(string:colorCode)
    var color:UInt32 = 0;
    scanner.scanHexInt(&color)
    
    let mask = 0x000000FF
    let r = CGFloat(Float(Int(color >> 16) & mask)/255.0)
    let g = CGFloat(Float(Int(color >> 8) & mask)/255.0)
    let b = CGFloat(Float(Int(color) & mask)/255.0)
    
    return UIColor(red: r, green: g, blue: b, alpha: CGFloat(alpha))
}

extension UIColor {
    convenience init(colorCode: String, alpha: Float = 1.0){
        var scanner = NSScanner(string:colorCode)
        var color:UInt32 = 0;
        scanner.scanHexInt(&color)
        
        let mask = 0x000000FF
        let r = CGFloat(Float(Int(color >> 16) & mask)/255.0)
        let g = CGFloat(Float(Int(color >> 8) & mask)/255.0)
        let b = CGFloat(Float(Int(color) & mask)/255.0)
        
        self.init(red: r, green: g, blue: b, alpha: CGFloat(alpha))
    }
}

let hexColorFromFunction = UIColorFromRGB("F4C124", alpha: 1.0)
let hexColorFromExtension = UIColor(colorCode: "F4C124", alpha: 1.0)

Hex Color

Answer 13

This is another alternative.

- (UIColor *)colorWithRGBHex:(UInt32)hex
{
    int r = (hex >> 16) & 0xFF;
    int g = (hex >> 8) & 0xFF;
    int b = (hex) & 0xFF;

    return [UIColor colorWithRed:r / 255.0f
                           green:g / 255.0f
                            blue:b / 255.0f
                           alpha:1.0f];
}

Answer 14

You could use various online tools to convert a HEX string to an actual UIColor. Check out uicolor.org or UI Color Picker. The output would be converted into Objective-C code, like:

[UIColor colorWithRed:0.93 green:0.80 blue:0.80 alpha:1.0];

Which you could embed in your application. Hope this helps!

Answer 15

SWIFT 4

You can create a nice convenience constructor in the extension like this:

extension UIColor {
    convenience init(hexString: String, alpha: CGFloat = 1.0) {
        var hexInt: UInt32 = 0
        let scanner = Scanner(string: hexString)
        scanner.charactersToBeSkipped = CharacterSet(charactersIn: "#")
        scanner.scanHexInt32(&hexInt)

        let red = CGFloat((hexInt & 0xff0000) >> 16) / 255.0
        let green = CGFloat((hexInt & 0xff00) >> 8) / 255.0
        let blue = CGFloat((hexInt & 0xff) >> 0) / 255.0
        let alpha = alpha

        self.init(red: red, green: green, blue: blue, alpha: alpha)
    }
}

And use it later like

let color = UIColor(hexString: "#AABBCCDD")

Answer 16

This is nice with cocoapod support

https://github.com/mRs-/HexColors

// with hash
NSColor *colorWithHex = [NSColor colorWithHexString:@"#ff8942" alpha:1];

// wihtout hash
NSColor *secondColorWithHex = [NSColor colorWithHexString:@"ff8942" alpha:1];

// short handling
NSColor *shortColorWithHex = [NSColor colorWithHexString:@"fff" alpha:1]

Answer 17

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 18

Swift equivalent of @Tom's answer, although receiving RGBA Int value to support transparency:

func colorWithHex(aHex: UInt) -> UIColor
{
    return UIColor(red: CGFloat((aHex & 0xFF000000) >> 24) / 255,
        green: CGFloat((aHex & 0x00FF0000) >> 16) / 255,
        blue: CGFloat((aHex & 0x0000FF00) >> 8) / 255,
        alpha: CGFloat((aHex & 0x000000FF) >> 0) / 255)
}

//usage
var color = colorWithHex(0x7F00FFFF)

And if you want to be able to use it from string you could use strtoul:

var hexString = "0x7F00FFFF"

let num = strtoul(hexString, nil, 16)

var colorFromString = colorWithHex(num)

Answer 19

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 20

Another implementation allowing strings like "FFF" or "FFFFFF" and using alpha:

+ (UIColor *) colorFromHexString:(NSString *)hexString alpha: (CGFloat)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];

    float red = ((baseValue >> 24) & 0xFF)/255.0f;
    float green = ((baseValue >> 16) & 0xFF)/255.0f;
    float blue = ((baseValue >> 8) & 0xFF)/255.0f;

    return [UIColor colorWithRed:red green:green blue:blue alpha:alpha];
}

Answer 21

updated for swift 1.2

class func colorWithHexString (hex:String) -> UIColor {
    var cString: NSString = hex.stringByTrimmingCharactersInSet(NSCharacterSet.whitespaceAndNewlineCharacterSet()).uppercaseString

    if (cString.hasPrefix("#")) {
        cString = cString.substringFromIndex(1)
    }

    if (count(cString as String) != 6) {
        return UIColor.grayColor()
    }

    var rString: String = cString.substringToIndex(2)
    var gString: String = (cString.substringFromIndex(2) as NSString).substringToIndex(2)
    var bString: String = (cString.substringFromIndex(4) as NSString).substringToIndex(2)

    var r:CUnsignedInt = 0, g:CUnsignedInt = 0, b:CUnsignedInt = 0;
    NSScanner(string: rString).scanHexInt(&r)
    NSScanner(string: gString).scanHexInt(&g)
    NSScanner(string: bString).scanHexInt(&b)
    return UIColor(red: CGFloat(Float(r) / 255.0), green: CGFloat(Float(g) / 255.0), blue: CGFloat(Float(b) / 255.0), alpha: CGFloat(1))

}

Answer 22

Create elegant extension for UIColor:

extension UIColor {

convenience init(string: String) {

        var uppercasedString = string.uppercased()
        uppercasedString.remove(at: string.startIndex)

        var rgbValue: UInt32 = 0
        Scanner(string: uppercasedString).scanHexInt32(&rgbValue)

        let red = CGFloat((rgbValue & 0xFF0000) >> 16) / 255.0
        let green = CGFloat((rgbValue & 0x00FF00) >> 8) / 255.0
        let blue = CGFloat(rgbValue & 0x0000FF) / 255.0

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

Create red color:

let red = UIColor(string: "#ff0000") 

Answer 23

extension UIColor 
{
    class func fromHexaString(hex:String) -> UIColor
    {
        let scanner           = Scanner(string: hex)
        scanner.scanLocation  = 0
        var rgbValue: UInt64  = 0
        scanner.scanHexInt64(&rgbValue)

        return UIColor(
            red: CGFloat((rgbValue & 0xFF0000) >> 16) / 255.0,
            green: CGFloat((rgbValue & 0x00FF00) >> 8) / 255.0,
            blue: CGFloat(rgbValue & 0x0000FF) / 255.0,
            alpha: CGFloat(1.0)
        )
    }
}

//you can call like this.

UIColor.fromHexaString(hex:3276b1)

Answer 24

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 25

Swift 5, iOS 14

convenience init(hex: String, alpha: CGFloat = 1.0) {
    var hexFormatted: String = hex.trimmingCharacters(in: CharacterSet.whitespacesAndNewlines).uppercased()
    
    if hexFormatted.hasPrefix("#") {
        hexFormatted = String(hexFormatted.dropFirst())
    }
    
    assert(hexFormatted.count == 6, "Invalid hex code used.")
    
    var rgbValue: UInt64 = 0
    Scanner(string: hexFormatted).scanHexInt64(&rgbValue)
    
    self.init(red: CGFloat((rgbValue & 0xFF0000) >> 16) / 255.0,
              green: CGFloat((rgbValue & 0x00FF00) >> 8) / 255.0,
              blue: CGFloat(rgbValue & 0x0000FF) / 255.0,
              alpha: alpha)
}

Answer 26

 You Can Get UIColor From String Code Like
   circularSpinner.fillColor = [self getUIColorObjectFromHexString:@"27b8c8" alpha:9];

 //Function For Hex Color Use
    - (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;
    }




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

        // Create 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;
    }

    /Function For Hex Color Use
    - (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;
    }




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

        // Create 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;
    }

Answer 27

I like to ensure the alpha besides the color, so i write my own category

+ (UIColor *) colorWithHex:(int)color {

    float red = (color & 0xff000000) >> 24;
    float green = (color & 0x00ff0000) >> 16;
    float blue = (color & 0x0000ff00) >> 8;
    float alpha = (color & 0x000000ff);

    return [UIColor colorWithRed:red/255.0 green:green/255.0 blue:blue/255.0 alpha:alpha/255.0];
}

easy to use like this

[UIColor colorWithHex:0xFF0000FF]; //Red
[UIColor colorWithHex:0x00FF00FF]; //Green
[UIColor colorWithHex:0x00FF00FF]; //Blue
[UIColor colorWithHex:0x0000007F]; //transparent black

Answer 28

I created a convenience init for that:

extension UIColor {
convenience init(hex: String, alpha: CGFloat)
{
    let redH = CGFloat(strtoul(hex.substringToIndex(advance(hex.startIndex,2)), nil, 16))
    let greenH = CGFloat(strtoul(hex.substringWithRange(Range<String.Index>(start: advance(hex.startIndex, 2), end: advance(hex.startIndex, 4))), nil, 16))
    let blueH = CGFloat(strtoul(hex.substringFromIndex(advance(hex.startIndex,4)), nil, 16))

    self.init(red: redH/255, green: greenH/255, blue: blueH/255, alpha: alpha)
}
}

then you can create an UIColor anywhere in your project just like this:

UIColor(hex: "ffe3c8", alpha: 1)

hope this helps...

Answer 29

You can create extension class of UIColor as:-

extension UIColor {

// MARK: - getColorFromHex /** This function will convert the color Hex code to RGB.

- parameter color  hex string.

- returns: RGB color code.
*/
class func getColorFromHex(hexString:String)->UIColor{

    var rgbValue : UInt32 = 0
    let scanner:NSScanner =  NSScanner(string: hexString)

    scanner.scanLocation = 1
    scanner.scanHexInt(&rgbValue)

    return UIColor(red: CGFloat((rgbValue & 0xFF0000) >> 16) / 255.0, green: CGFloat((rgbValue & 0x00FF00) >> 8) / 255.0, blue: CGFloat(rgbValue & 0x0000FF) / 255.0, alpha: CGFloat(1.0))
}

}

Answer 30

For swift 2.0+. This code works fine to me.

extension UIColor {
    /// UIColor(hexString: "#cc0000")
    internal convenience init?(hexString:String) {
        guard hexString.characters[hexString.startIndex] == Character("#") else {
            return nil
        }
        guard hexString.characters.count == "#000000".characters.count else {
            return nil
        }
        let digits = hexString.substringFromIndex(hexString.startIndex.advancedBy(1))
        guard Int(digits,radix:16) != nil else{
            return nil
        }
        let red = digits.substringToIndex(digits.startIndex.advancedBy(2))
        let green = digits.substringWithRange(Range<String.Index>(start: digits.startIndex.advancedBy(2),
            end: digits.startIndex.advancedBy(4)))
        let blue = digits.substringWithRange(Range<String.Index>(start:digits.startIndex.advancedBy(4),
            end:digits.startIndex.advancedBy(6)))
        let redf = CGFloat(Double(Int(red, radix:16)!) / 255.0)
        let greenf = CGFloat(Double(Int(green, radix:16)!) / 255.0)
        let bluef = CGFloat(Double(Int(blue, radix:16)!) / 255.0)
        self.init(red: redf, green: greenf, blue: bluef, alpha: CGFloat(1.0))
    }
}

This code includes string format checking. e.g.

let aColor = UIColor(hexString: "#dadada")!
let failed = UIColor(hexString: "123zzzz")

And as far as I know, my code is of no disadvantage for its maintaining the semantic of failible condition and returning an optional value. And this should be the best answer.