ios - How to convert hexadecimal string to an array of UInt8 bytes in Swift?

Question

I have the following code:

var encryptedByteArray: Array<UInt8>?
do {
    let aes = try AES(key: "passwordpassword", iv: "drowssapdrowssap")
    encryptedByteArray = try aes.encrypt(Array("ThisIsAnExample".utf8))
} catch {
    fatalError("Failed to initiate aes!")
}

print(encryptedByteArray!) // Prints [224, 105, 99, 73, 119, 70, 6, 241, 181, 96, 47, 250, 108, 45, 149, 63]

let hexString = encryptedByteArray?.toHexString()

print(hexString!) // Prints e0696349774606f1b5602ffa6c2d953f

How can I convert hexString back to the same array of UInt8 bytes?

The reason why I am asking is because I want to communicate with a server through an encrypted hexadecimal string and I need to convert it back to an array of UInt8 bytes to decode the string to its original form.

Answer 1

You can convert your hexa string back to array of UInt8 iterating every two hexa characters and initialize an UInt8 from it using UInt8 radix 16 initializer:

---

Edit/update: Xcode 14 ? Swift 5.1

extension StringProtocol {
    var hexaData: Data { .init(hexa) }
    var hexaBytes: [UInt8] { .init(hexa) }
    private var hexa: UnfoldSequence<UInt8, Index> {
        sequence(state: startIndex) { startIndex in
            guard startIndex < self.endIndex else { return nil }
            let endIndex = self.index(startIndex, offsetBy: 2, limitedBy: self.endIndex) ?? self.endIndex
            defer { startIndex = endIndex }
            return UInt8(self[startIndex..<endIndex], radix: 16)
        }
    }
}

---

let string = "e0696349774606f1b5602ffa6c2d953f"
let data = string.hexaData    // 16 bytes
let bytes = string.hexaBytes  // [224, 105, 99, 73, 119, 70, 6, 241, 181, 96, 47, 250, 108, 45, 149, 63]

---

Playground:

let hexaString = "e0696349774606f1b5602ffa6c2d953f"

let bytes = hexaString.hexa   // [224, 105, 99, 73, 119, 70, 6, 241, 181, 96, 47, 250, 108, 45, 149, 63]