Best way to serialize an NSData into a hexadeximal string

I am looking for a nice-cocoa way to serialize an NSData object into a hexadecimal string. The idea is to serialize the deviceToken used for notification before sending it to my server.

I have the following implementation, but I am thinking there must be some shorter and nicer way to do it.

+ (NSString*) serializeDeviceToken:(NSData*) deviceToken
{
    NSMutableString *str = [NSMutableString stringWithCapacity:64];
    int length = [deviceToken length];
    char *bytes = malloc(sizeof(char) * length);

    [deviceToken getBytes:bytes length:length];

    for (int i = 0; i < length; i++)
    {
        [str appendFormat:@"%02.2hhX", bytes[i]];
    }
    free(bytes);

    return str;
}

This is a category applied to NSData that I wrote. It returns a hexadecimal NSString representing the NSData, where the data can be any length. Returns an empty string if NSData is empty.

NSData+Conversion.h

#import <Foundation/Foundation.h>

@interface NSData (NSData_Conversion)

#pragma mark - String Conversion
- (NSString *)hexadecimalString;

@end

NSData+Conversion.m

#import "NSData+Conversion.h"

@implementation NSData (NSData_Conversion)

#pragma mark - String Conversion
- (NSString *)hexadecimalString {
    /* Returns hexadecimal string of NSData. Empty string if data is empty.   */

    const unsigned char *dataBuffer = (const unsigned char *)[self bytes];

    if (!dataBuffer)
        return [NSString string];

    NSUInteger          dataLength  = [self length];
    NSMutableString     *hexString  = [NSMutableString stringWithCapacity:(dataLength * 2)];

    for (int i = 0; i < dataLength; ++i)
        [hexString appendString:[NSString stringWithFormat:@"%02lx", (unsigned long)dataBuffer[i]]];

    return [NSString stringWithString:hexString];
}

@end

Usage:

NSData *someData = ...;
NSString *someDataHexadecimalString = [someData hexadecimalString];

This is "probably" better than calling [someData description] and then stripping the spaces, <'s, and >'s. Stripping characters just feels too "hacky". Plus you never know if Apple will change the formatting of NSData's -description in the future.

NOTE: I have had people reach out to me about licensing for the code in this answer. I hereby dedicate my copyright in the code I posted in this answer to the public domain.

Here's a highly optimized NSData category method for generating a hex string. While @Dave Gallagher's answer is sufficient for a relatively small size, memory and cpu performance deteriorate for large amounts of data. I profiled this with a 2MB file on my iPhone 5. Time comparison was 0.05 vs 12 seconds. Memory footprint is negligible with this method while the other method grew the heap to 70MBs!

- (NSString *) hexString
{
    NSUInteger bytesCount = self.length;
    if (bytesCount) {
        const char *hexChars = "0123456789ABCDEF";
        const unsigned char *dataBuffer = self.bytes;
        char *chars = malloc(sizeof(char) * (bytesCount * 2 + 1));       
        if (chars == NULL) {
            // malloc returns null if attempting to allocate more memory than the system can provide. Thanks Cœur
            [NSException raise:NSInternalInconsistencyException format:@"Failed to allocate more memory" arguments:nil];
            return nil;
        }
        char *s = chars;
        for (unsigned i = 0; i < bytesCount; ++i) {
            *s++ = hexChars[((*dataBuffer & 0xF0) >> 4)];
            *s++ = hexChars[(*dataBuffer & 0x0F)];
            dataBuffer++;
        }
        *s = '\0';
        NSString *hexString = [NSString stringWithUTF8String:chars];
        free(chars);
        return hexString;
    }
    return @"";
}

Using the description property of NSData should not be considered an acceptable mechanism for HEX encoding the string. That property is for description only and can change at any time. As a note, pre-iOS, the NSData description property didn't even return it's data in hex form.

Sorry for harping on the solution but it's important to take the energy to serialize it without piggy-backing off an API that is meant for something else other than data serialization.

@implementation NSData (Hex)

- (NSString*)hexString
{
    NSUInteger length = self.length;
    unichar* hexChars = (unichar*)malloc(sizeof(unichar) * (length*2));
    unsigned char* bytes = (unsigned char*)self.bytes;
    for (NSUInteger i = 0; i < length; i++) {
        unichar c = bytes[i] / 16;
        if (c < 10) {
            c += '0';
        } else {
            c += 'A' - 10;
        }
        hexChars[i*2] = c;

        c = bytes[i] % 16;
        if (c < 10) {
            c += '0';
        } else {
            c += 'A' - 10;
        }
        hexChars[i*2+1] = c;
    }
    NSString* retVal = [[NSString alloc] initWithCharactersNoCopy:hexChars length:length*2 freeWhenDone:YES];
    return [retVal autorelease];
}

@end

Here is a faster way to do the conversion:

BenchMark (mean time for a 1024 bytes data conversion repeated 100 times):

Dave Gallagher : ~8.070 ms
NSProgrammer : ~0.077 ms
Peter : ~0.031 ms
This One : ~0.017 ms

@implementation NSData (BytesExtras)

static char _NSData_BytesConversionString_[512] = "000102030405060708090a0b0c0d0e0f101112131415161718191a1b1c1d1e1f202122232425262728292a2b2c2d2e2f303132333435363738393a3b3c3d3e3f404142434445464748494a4b4c4d4e4f505152535455565758595a5b5c5d5e5f606162636465666768696a6b6c6d6e6f707172737475767778797a7b7c7d7e7f808182838485868788898a8b8c8d8e8f909192939495969798999a9b9c9d9e9fa0a1a2a3a4a5a6a7a8a9aaabacadaeafb0b1b2b3b4b5b6b7b8b9babbbcbdbebfc0c1c2c3c4c5c6c7c8c9cacbcccdcecfd0d1d2d3d4d5d6d7d8d9dadbdcdddedfe0e1e2e3e4e5e6e7e8e9eaebecedeeeff0f1f2f3f4f5f6f7f8f9fafbfcfdfeff";

-(NSString*)bytesString
{
    UInt16*  mapping = (UInt16*)_NSData_BytesConversionString_;
    register UInt16 len = self.length;
    char*    hexChars = (char*)malloc( sizeof(char) * (len*2) );

    // --- Coeur's contribution - a safe way to check the allocation
    if (hexChars == NULL) {
    // we directly raise an exception instead of using NSAssert to make sure assertion is not disabled as this is irrecoverable
        [NSException raise:@"NSInternalInconsistencyException" format:@"failed malloc" arguments:nil];
        return nil;
    }
    // ---

    register UInt16* dst = ((UInt16*)hexChars) + len-1;
    register unsigned char* src = (unsigned char*)self.bytes + len-1;

    while (len--) *dst-- = mapping[*src--];

    NSString* retVal = [[NSString alloc] initWithBytesNoCopy:hexChars length:self.length*2 encoding:NSASCIIStringEncoding freeWhenDone:YES];
#if (!__has_feature(objc_arc))
   return [retVal autorelease];
#else
    return retVal;
#endif
}

@end