How do I decode HTML entities in Swift?

Question

I am pulling a JSON file from a site and one of the strings received is:

The Weeknd ‘King Of The Fall&         


        

Answer 1

Elegant Swift 4 Solution

If you want a string,

myString = String(htmlString: encodedString)

add this extension to your project:

extension String {

    init(htmlString: String) {
        self.init()
        guard let encodedData = htmlString.data(using: .utf8) else {
            self = htmlString
            return
        }

        let attributedOptions: [NSAttributedString.DocumentReadingOptionKey : Any] = [
           .documentType: NSAttributedString.DocumentType.html,
           .characterEncoding: String.Encoding.utf8.rawValue
        ]

        do {
            let attributedString = try NSAttributedString(data: encodedData,
                                                          options: attributedOptions,
                                                          documentAttributes: nil)
            self = attributedString.string
        } catch {
            print("Error: \(error.localizedDescription)")
            self = htmlString
        }
    }
}

If you want an NSAttributedString with bold, italic, links, etc.,

textField.attributedText = try? NSAttributedString(htmlString: encodedString)

add this extension to your project:

extension NSAttributedString {

    convenience init(htmlString html: String) throws {
        try self.init(data: Data(html.utf8), options: [
            .documentType: NSAttributedString.DocumentType.html,
            .characterEncoding: String.Encoding.utf8.rawValue
            ], documentAttributes: nil)
    }

}