How to convert a HTML name string into a UIColor
HTML color names let you use familiar titles like "steel blue" and "mint cream" rather than hex values, but sadly these standardized names aren't available in iOS – or at least not by default. Fortunately, it's easy to add an extension to UIColor that maps these names to hexadecimal color values, then add another extension to convert hex colors to UIColors. Here's the code:
extension UIColor {
public convenience init?(hexString: String) {
let r, g, b, a: CGFloat
if hexString.hasPrefix("#") {
let start = hexString.index(hexString.startIndex, offsetBy: 1)
let hexColor = hexString.substring(from: start)
if hexColor.count == 8 {
let scanner = Scanner(string: hexColor)
var hexNumber: UInt64 = 0
if scanner.scanHexInt64(&hexNumber) {
r = CGFloat((hexNumber & 0xff000000) >> 24) / 255
g = CGFloat((hexNumber & 0x00ff0000) >> 16) / 255
b = CGFloat((hexNumber & 0x0000ff00) >> 8) / 255
a = CGFloat(hexNumber & 0x000000ff) / 255
self.init(red: r, green: g, blue: b, alpha: a)
return
}
}
}
return nil
}
public convenience init?(name: String) {
let allColors = [
"aliceblue": "#F0F8FFFF",
"antiquewhite": "#FAEBD7FF",
"aqua": "#00FFFFFF",
"aquamarine": "#7FFFD4FF",
"azure": "#F0FFFFFF",
"beige": "#F5F5DCFF",
"bisque": "#FFE4C4FF",
"black": "#000000FF",
"blanchedalmond": "#FFEBCDFF",
"blue": "#0000FFFF",
"blueviolet": "#8A2BE2FF",
"brown": "#A52A2AFF",
"burlywood": "#DEB887FF",
"cadetblue": "#5F9EA0FF",
"chartreuse": "#7FFF00FF",
"chocolate": "#D2691EFF",
"coral": "#FF7F50FF",
"cornflowerblue": "#6495EDFF",
"cornsilk": "#FFF8DCFF",
"crimson": "#DC143CFF",
"cyan": "#00FFFFFF",
"darkblue": "#00008BFF",
"darkcyan": "#008B8BFF",
"darkgoldenrod": "#B8860BFF",
"darkgray": "#A9A9A9FF",
"darkgrey": "#A9A9A9FF",
"darkgreen": "#006400FF",
"darkkhaki": "#BDB76BFF",
"darkmagenta": "#8B008BFF",
"darkolivegreen": "#556B2FFF",
"darkorange": "#FF8C00FF",
"darkorchid": "#9932CCFF",
"darkred": "#8B0000FF",
"darksalmon": "#E9967AFF",
"darkseagreen": "#8FBC8FFF",
"darkslateblue": "#483D8BFF",
"darkslategray": "#2F4F4FFF",
"darkslategrey": "#2F4F4FFF",
"darkturquoise": "#00CED1FF",
"darkviolet": "#9400D3FF",
"deeppink": "#FF1493FF",
"deepskyblue": "#00BFFFFF",
"dimgray": "#696969FF",
"dimgrey": "#696969FF",
"dodgerblue": "#1E90FFFF",
"firebrick": "#B22222FF",
"floralwhite": "#FFFAF0FF",
"forestgreen": "#228B22FF",
"fuchsia": "#FF00FFFF",
"gainsboro": "#DCDCDCFF",
"ghostwhite": "#F8F8FFFF",
"gold": "#FFD700FF",
"goldenrod": "#DAA520FF",
"gray": "#808080FF",
"grey": "#808080FF",
"green": "#008000FF",
"greenyellow": "#ADFF2FFF",
"honeydew": "#F0FFF0FF",
"hotpink": "#FF69B4FF",
"indianred": "#CD5C5CFF",
"indigo": "#4B0082FF",
"ivory": "#FFFFF0FF",
"khaki": "#F0E68CFF",
"lavender": "#E6E6FAFF",
"lavenderblush": "#FFF0F5FF",
"lawngreen": "#7CFC00FF",
"lemonchiffon": "#FFFACDFF",
"lightblue": "#ADD8E6FF",
"lightcoral": "#F08080FF",
"lightcyan": "#E0FFFFFF",
"lightgoldenrodyellow": "#FAFAD2FF",
"lightgray": "#D3D3D3FF",
"lightgrey": "#D3D3D3FF",
"lightgreen": "#90EE90FF",
"lightpink": "#FFB6C1FF",
"lightsalmon": "#FFA07AFF",
"lightseagreen": "#20B2AAFF",
"lightskyblue": "#87CEFAFF",
"lightslategray": "#778899FF",
"lightslategrey": "#778899FF",
"lightsteelblue": "#B0C4DEFF",
"lightyellow": "#FFFFE0FF",
"lime": "#00FF00FF",
"limegreen": "#32CD32FF",
"linen": "#FAF0E6FF",
"magenta": "#FF00FFFF",
"maroon": "#800000FF",
"mediumaquamarine": "#66CDAAFF",
"mediumblue": "#0000CDFF",
"mediumorchid": "#BA55D3FF",
"mediumpurple": "#9370D8FF",
"mediumseagreen": "#3CB371FF",
"mediumslateblue": "#7B68EEFF",
"mediumspringgreen": "#00FA9AFF",
"mediumturquoise": "#48D1CCFF",
"mediumvioletred": "#C71585FF",
"midnightblue": "#191970FF",
"mintcream": "#F5FFFAFF",
"mistyrose": "#FFE4E1FF",
"moccasin": "#FFE4B5FF",
"navajowhite": "#FFDEADFF",
"navy": "#000080FF",
"oldlace": "#FDF5E6FF",
"olive": "#808000FF",
"olivedrab": "#6B8E23FF",
"orange": "#FFA500FF",
"orangered": "#FF4500FF",
"orchid": "#DA70D6FF",
"palegoldenrod": "#EEE8AAFF",
"palegreen": "#98FB98FF",
"paleturquoise": "#AFEEEEFF",
"palevioletred": "#D87093FF",
"papayawhip": "#FFEFD5FF",
"peachpuff": "#FFDAB9FF",
"peru": "#CD853FFF",
"pink": "#FFC0CBFF",
"plum": "#DDA0DDFF",
"powderblue": "#B0E0E6FF",
"purple": "#800080FF",
"rebeccapurple": "#663399FF",
"red": "#FF0000FF",
"rosybrown": "#BC8F8FFF",
"royalblue": "#4169E1FF",
"saddlebrown": "#8B4513FF",
"salmon": "#FA8072FF",
"sandybrown": "#F4A460FF",
"seagreen": "#2E8B57FF",
"seashell": "#FFF5EEFF",
"sienna": "#A0522DFF",
"silver": "#C0C0C0FF",
"skyblue": "#87CEEBFF",
"slateblue": "#6A5ACDFF",
"slategray": "#708090FF",
"slategrey": "#708090FF",
"snow": "#FFFAFAFF",
"springgreen": "#00FF7FFF",
"steelblue": "#4682B4FF",
"tan": "#D2B48CFF",
"teal": "#008080FF",
"thistle": "#D8BFD8FF",
"tomato": "#FF6347FF",
"turquoise": "#40E0D0FF",
"violet": "#EE82EEFF",
"wheat": "#F5DEB3FF",
"white": "#FFFFFFFF",
"whitesmoke": "#F5F5F5FF",
"yellow": "#FFFF00FF",
"yellowgreen": "#9ACD32FF"
]
let cleanedName = name.replacingOccurrences(of: " ", with: "").lowercased()
if let hexString = allColors[cleanedName] {
self.init(hexString: hexString)
} else {
return nil
}
}
}With that done, here's how you create a color:
let steelBlue = UIColor(name: "steel blue")Sponsored You’re already busy updating your app for Swift 4.2 and iOS 12, so why not let Instabug help you find and fix bugs? Add just two lines of code to your project and receive comprehensive reports with all the feedback you need to ship a world-class app – click here to learn more!
Available from iOS 2.0
Did this solution work for you? Please pass it on!
Other people are reading…
- How to convert a hex color to a UIColor
- How to read the red, green, blue, and alpha color components from a UIColor
- How to create custom colors using UIColor RGB and hues
- How to use an image for your background color with UIColor(patternImage:)
About the Swift Knowledge Base
This is part of the Swift Knowledge Base, a free, searchable collection of solutions for common iOS questions.
Download for free!
Want a free 75-minute video teaching functional programming, protocol-oriented programming, and more? This is your lucky day!
