Converting URL to String and back again

Question

So I have converted an NSURL to a String. So if I println it looks like file:///Users/... etc.

Later I want this back as an NSURL so I try and convert it back as seen below, but I lose two of the forward slashes that appear in the string version above, that in turn breaks the code as the url is invalid.

Why is my conversion back to NSURL removing two forward slashes from the String I give it, and how can I convert back to the NSURL containing three forward slashes?

var urlstring: String = recordingsDictionaryArray[selectedRow]["path"] as String
println("the url string = \(urlstring)")
// looks like file:///Users/........etc
var url = NSURL.fileURLWithPath(urlstring)
println("the url = \(url!)")
// looks like file:/Users/......etc

In Swift 5, to convert string to url is Foundation.URL(string: " "). — Kanishk Gupta
– Kanishk Gupta, Commented Nov 11, 2019 at 6:41

Naishta · Accepted Answer · 2021-03-19 10:47:29Z

227

In Swift 5, Swift 4 and Swift 3 To convert String to URL:

URL(string: String)

or,

URL.init(string: "yourURLString")

And to convert URL to String:

URL.absoluteString

The one below converts the 'contents' of the url to string

String(contentsOf: URL)

edited Mar 19, 2021 at 10:47

answered Oct 10, 2016 at 22:55

Naishta

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4 Comments

Tomislav Markovski Over a year ago

The second part is incorrect. String(contentsOf: URL) returns the actual payload of that resource, not the URL in string format. Use URL.absoluteString to get the string version of the URL. developer.apple.com/reference/foundation/nsurl/…

Eric Aya Over a year ago

You're making the same mistake as in stackoverflow.com/a/39967995/2227743 where you conflate converting the URL itself to a string with converting the downloaded content to a String. You should remove this part of your answer because it is completely wrong (or off-topic, but in the end it's wrong because it doesn't answer the question).

Naishta Over a year ago

35+ people found this useful and upvoted it, I would rather keep it as is.

James Toomey Over a year ago

I got burned using fileManager.fileExists(atPath: dbPath.absoluteString), because the conversion from URL preserved the escaped spaces, like this: Application%20Support instead of Application Support, and it returned false. It didn't do this with dbPath.path. Just something to be aware of.

Martin R · Accepted Answer · 2014-11-21 13:35:59Z

130

fileURLWithPath() is used to convert a plain file path (e.g. "/path/to/file") to an URL. Your urlString is a full URL string including the scheme, so you should use

let url = NSURL(string: urlstring)

to convert it back to NSURL. Example:

let urlstring = "file:///Users/Me/Desktop/Doc.txt"
let url = NSURL(string: urlstring)
println("the url = \(url!)")
// the url = file:///Users/Me/Desktop/Doc.txt

answered Nov 21, 2014 at 13:35

Martin R

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2 Comments

Brent Faust Over a year ago

Excellent. Or now in Swift: URL(string: urlstring)

Carlos Parada Over a year ago

Maybe you need "urlstring.removingWhitespaces()", because URL(string don't have the capacity to work when the string has spaces

iphaaw · Accepted Answer · 2016-05-14 14:45:41Z

77

There is a nicer way of getting the string version of the path from the NSURL in Swift:

let path:String = url.path

answered May 14, 2016 at 14:45

iphaaw

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2 Comments

Kumar Over a year ago

but it will return only /questions/27062454/converting-url-to-string-and-back-again for url https://stackoverflow.com/questions/27062454/converting-url-to-string-and-back-again

Ben Baron Over a year ago

This is actually really useful if you want to use the path for some of the other FileManager methods that need a string path. They don't like the file:// format.

Andrew · Accepted Answer · 2024-10-02 02:28:52Z

60

2021 | SWIFT 5.1:

FOR LOCAL PATHS

String --> URL :

let url1 = URL(fileURLWithPath: "//Users/Me/Desktop/Doc.txt")
let url2 = URL(fileURLWithPath: "//Users/Me/Desktop", isDirectory: true)

// !!!!!NEVER DO THIS FOR LOCAL PATHS!!!!!!
let url3 = URL(string: "file:///Users/Me/Desktop/Doc.txt")!
// !!!!!NEVER DO THIS!!!!!!

URL --> String :

let a = String(describing: url1)  // "file:////Users/Me/Desktop/Doc.txt"
let b = "\(url1)"                 // "file:////Users/Me/Desktop/Doc.txt"
let c = url1.absoluteString       // "file:////Users/Me/Desktop/Doc.txt"

// Best solution in most cases
let d = url1.path                 // "/Users/Me/Desktop/Doc.txt"

FOR INTERNET URLs

String --> URL :

let url = URL(string: "https://stackoverflow.com/questions/27062454/converting-url-to-string-and-back-again")!

URL --> String :

url.absoluteString // https://stackoverflow.com/questions/27062454/converting-url-to-string-and-back-again

url.path           // /questions/27062454/converting-url-to-string-and-back-again

edited Oct 2, 2024 at 2:28

answered Dec 24, 2019 at 5:01

Andrew

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7 Comments

Goppinath Over a year ago

By the way, the URL.path is now deprecated from iOS 16.2 and above. What could be the replacement for it?

Andrew Over a year ago

@Goppinath have no idea, I'm working with macOS =)

deed02392 Over a year ago

Accessing the path is not deprecated - only creating a new URL from a string using path is.

Andrew Over a year ago

@clearlight because of this initialisation must be used only for internet URLs. If you will use it with local path it can do not work in some cases because of incorrect initialisation. It is for some reason created init(fileURLWithPath: String) except init(string: String) :) If you want to know details - you always can check official documentation. Also the second one init creates nullable URL this is also bad thing when you are able to init not-nullable URL without loose of anything :)

DanSkeel Over a year ago

@Goppinath probably path(percentEncoded:) is a new way to go.

|

Roger · Accepted Answer · 2021-05-14 04:43:06Z

35

NOTICE: pay attention to the url, it's optional and it can be nil. You can wrap your url in the quote to convert it to a string. You can test it in the playground.
Update for Swift 5, Xcode 11:

import Foundation

let urlString = "http://ifconfig.me"
// string to url
let url = URL(string: urlString)
//url to string
let string = "\(url)"
// if you want the path without `file` schema
// let string = url.path

edited May 14, 2021 at 4:43

answered Jul 23, 2015 at 11:35

Roger

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1 Comment

Ahmed Khalaf Over a year ago

It should be noted that this returns also the scheme prefix (think file:///Users/foo). While if just the absolute path is needed (think /Users/foo), then url.path should be used as in @iphaaw's answer below.

4b0 · Accepted Answer · 2018-07-10 15:01:58Z

16

let url = URL(string: "URLSTRING HERE")
let anyvar =  String(describing: url)

edited Jul 10, 2018 at 15:01

4b0

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answered Jul 10, 2018 at 15:00

Ahsan

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Comments

Vitalii · Accepted Answer · 2017-01-20 22:06:36Z

Swift 3 (forget about NSURL).

let fileName = "20-01-2017 22:47"
let folderString = "file:///var/mobile/someLongPath"

To make a URL out of a string:

let folder: URL? = Foundation.URL(string: folderString)
// Optional<URL>
//  ▿ some : file:///var/mobile/someLongPath

If we want to add the filename. Note, that appendingPathComponent() adds the percent encoding automatically:

let folderWithFilename: URL? = folder?.appendingPathComponent(fileName)
// Optional<URL>
//  ▿ some : file:///var/mobile/someLongPath/20-01-2017%2022:47

When we want to have String but without the root part (pay attention that percent encoding is removed automatically):

let folderWithFilename: String? = folderWithFilename.path
// ▿ Optional<String>
//  - some : "/var/mobile/someLongPath/20-01-2017 22:47"

If we want to keep the root part we do this (but mind the percent encoding - it is not removed):

let folderWithFilenameAbsoluteString: String? = folderWithFilenameURL.absoluteString
// ▿ Optional<String>
//  - some : "file:///var/mobile/someLongPath/20-01-2017%2022:47"

To manually add the percent encoding for a string:

let folderWithFilenameAndEncoding: String? = folderWithFilename.addingPercentEncoding(withAllowedCharacters: CharacterSet.urlQueryAllowed)
// ▿ Optional<String>
//  - some : "/var/mobile/someLongPath/20-01-2017%2022:47"

To remove the percent encoding:

let folderWithFilenameAbsoluteStringNoEncodig: String? = folderWithFilenameAbsoluteString.removingPercentEncoding
// ▿ Optional<String>
//  - some : "file:///var/mobile/someLongPath/20-01-2017 22:47"

The percent-encoding is important because URLs for network requests need them, while URLs to file system won't always work - it depends on the actual method that uses them. The caveat here is that they may be removed or added automatically, so better debug these conversions carefully.

mriaz0011 · Accepted Answer · 2017-02-15 15:37:10Z

8

Swift 3 version code:

let urlString = "file:///Users/Documents/Book/Note.txt"
let pathURL = URL(string: urlString)!
print("the url = " + pathURL.path)

edited Feb 15, 2017 at 15:37

answered Feb 14, 2017 at 21:22

mriaz0011

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Comments

andrewlundy_ · Accepted Answer · 2020-09-22 01:59:48Z

6

Swift 5.

To convert a String to a URL:

let stringToURL = URL(string: "your-string")

To convert a URL to a String:

let urlToString = stringToURL?.absoluteString

answered Sep 22, 2020 at 1:59

andrewlundy_

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Comments

Raj Joshi · Accepted Answer · 2017-08-25 10:09:20Z

1

Swift 3 used with UIWebViewDelegate shouldStartLoadWith

  func webView(_ webView: UIWebView, shouldStartLoadWith request: URLRequest, navigationType: UIWebViewNavigationType) -> Bool {

    let urlPath: String = (request.url?.absoluteString)!
    print(urlPath)
    if urlPath.characters.last == "#" {
        return false
    }else{
        return true
    }

}

answered Aug 25, 2017 at 10:09

Raj Joshi

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