Base64 Decoding in iOS 7+

Question

I have Encoded text(NSString) using NSData Class new API which is Added in iOS7.

using this

- (NSData *)dataUsingEncoding:(NSStringEncoding)encoding;  

here is my code

NSString *base64EncodedString = [[myText dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding] base64EncodedStringWithOptions:0];

NSLog(@"%@", base64EncodedString);

I am looking to decode it

Answer 1

Swift 3+

let plainString = "foo"

Encoding

let plainData = plainString.data(using: .utf8)
let base64String = plainData?.base64EncodedString()
print(base64String!) // Zm9v

Decoding

if let decodedData = Data(base64Encoded: base64String!),
   let decodedString = String(data: decodedData, encoding: .utf8) {
  print(decodedString) // foo
}

---

Swift < 3

let plainString = "foo"

Encoding

let plainData = plainString.dataUsingEncoding(NSUTF8StringEncoding)
let base64String = plainData?.base64EncodedStringWithOptions(NSDataBase64EncodingOptions(rawValue: 0))
print(base64String!) // Zm9v

Decoding

let decodedData = NSData(base64EncodedString: base64String!, options: NSDataBase64DecodingOptions(rawValue: 0))
let decodedString = NSString(data: decodedData, encoding: NSUTF8StringEncoding)
print(decodedString) // foo

---

Objective-C

NSString *plainString = @"foo";

Encoding

NSData *plainData = [plainString dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];
NSString *base64String = [plainData base64EncodedStringWithOptions:0];
NSLog(@"%@", base64String); // Zm9v

Decoding

NSData *decodedData = [[NSData alloc] initWithBase64EncodedString:base64String options:0];
NSString *decodedString = [[NSString alloc] initWithData:decodedData encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];
NSLog(@"%@", decodedString); // foo 

---

Answer 2

In case you want to write fallback code, decoding from base64 has been present in iOS since the very beginning by caveat of NSURL:

NSURL *URL = [NSURL URLWithString:
      [NSString stringWithFormat:@"data:application/octet-stream;base64,%@",
           base64String]];

return [NSData dataWithContentsOfURL:URL];