decode base64 string as UTF-8

Question

I am using the base64 implementation at the bottom of this post.

If I use following code:

NSLog(@"decoded:%@",[[[NSString alloc] initWithData:[Base64 decode:@"8fEmIzEyNDA3OyYjMTI0MTE7"] encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding] autorelease]);

I get decoded:(null)

However, if I use:

NSLog(@"decoded 1:%@",[[[NSString alloc] initWithData:[Base64 decode:@"8fEmIzEyNDA3OyYjMTI0MTE7"] encoding:NSASCIIStringEncoding] autorelease]);

I get decoded:ññぷほ

But I should get decoded:ññぷほ

What am I doing wrong?

You can use - http://stackoverflow.com/questions/392464/any-base64-library-on-iphone-sdk — Sagar, Oct 11 '10 at 12:35
¬¬ that's what I am using.. if you follow the "this post" link you will get to the same page — Daniel, Oct 11 '10 at 13:18

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 11 '10 at 12:22

2

Those are HTML character references. You'll need to decode further if you want raw text.

answered Oct 11 '10 at 12:22

Does it mean that coding and decoding ぷぷ would not work since I would first get ぷぷ ? – Daniel Oct 11 '10 at 13:23
1

No, you'd get `ぷぷ`. – Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams Oct 11 '10 at 13:26
But that should not be necessary since I encode an array of bytes, if I decode it again and see it as UTF-8, it should not be HTML encoded, should it? – Daniel Oct 11 '10 at 13:57
Whatever you encode should decode to the same, unless something else gets in the way and re-encodes it for you. – Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams Oct 11 '10 at 14:00
The problem should be the way I convert the NSData to NSString, which is in the line of code I provided in the question. Can you find any problem there? – Daniel Oct 11 '10 at 14:17
Also, that's not UTF-8, that's Latin-1. – Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams Oct 11 '10 at 14:24
I do not think ぷ is in latin1 =) latin1 is west-european characters – Daniel Oct 11 '10 at 15:17
But it's *not* `ぷ`, it's `ぷ`. – Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams Oct 11 '10 at 15:22
Thanks a lot, you were right, it was the encoding (which btw was done by an online encoder/decoder) – Daniel Oct 11 '10 at 15:48

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 11 '10 at 12:32

0

You should read this article by Matt Gallagher. At the bottom there is link with code for iOS if that is what you are after.

It provides an class extension to NSData which is you string is easily converted from and too.

answered Oct 11 '10 at 12:32

Thomas Anagrius

2 Answers2