How can I create a UIColor from a hex string?

Question

How can I create a UIColor from a hexadecimal string format, such as #00FF00?

Answer 1

Another implementation allowing strings like "FFF" or "FFFFFF" and using alpha:

+ (UIColor *) colorFromHexString:(NSString *)hexString alpha: (CGFloat)alpha{
    NSString *cleanString = [hexString stringByReplacingOccurrencesOfString:@"#" withString:@""];
    if([cleanString length] == 3) {
        cleanString = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"%@%@%@%@%@%@",
                       [cleanString substringWithRange:NSMakeRange(0, 1)],[cleanString substringWithRange:NSMakeRange(0, 1)],
                       [cleanString substringWithRange:NSMakeRange(1, 1)],[cleanString substringWithRange:NSMakeRange(1, 1)],
                       [cleanString substringWithRange:NSMakeRange(2, 1)],[cleanString substringWithRange:NSMakeRange(2, 1)]];
    }
    if([cleanString length] == 6) {
        cleanString = [cleanString stringByAppendingString:@"ff"];
    }

    unsigned int baseValue;
    [[NSScanner scannerWithString:cleanString] scanHexInt:&baseValue];

    float red = ((baseValue >> 24) & 0xFF)/255.0f;
    float green = ((baseValue >> 16) & 0xFF)/255.0f;
    float blue = ((baseValue >> 8) & 0xFF)/255.0f;

    return [UIColor colorWithRed:red green:green blue:blue alpha:alpha];
}