How to get RGB values from UIColor?

Question

I\'m creating a color object using the following code.

curView.backgroundColor = [[UIColor alloc] initWithHue:229 saturation:40 brightness:75 alpha:1];


        

Answer 1

Hopefully this will be helpful

CGFloat red, green, blue, alpha;

//Create a sample color

UIColor *redColor = [UIColor redColor];

//Call 

[redColor getRed: &red 
  green: &green
  blue: &blue 
  alpha: &alpha];
NSLog(@"red = %f. Green = %f. Blue = %f. Alpha = %f",
  red,
  green,
  blue,
  alpha);

Answer 2

The top voted answer is outdated:

error: :3:1: error: 'CGColorGetComponents' has been replaced by property 'CGColor.components'

Instead, use

myUIColor.cgColor.components

Answer 3

You can use CIColor components (swift 5)

let ciColor = CIColor(color: backgroundColor)
let alpha = ciColor.alpha
let red = ciColor.red
let blue = ciColor.blue
let green = ciColor.green

this works for non-RGB color space too

Answer 4

const CGFloat *colors = CGColorGetComponents( curView.backgroundColor.CGColor );

These links provide further details:

• UIColor Reference
• CGColorGetComponents reference

Answer 5

Some useful macros I've made for this and other color controls:

In your case you would just use

getRGBA(myColor, red, green, blue, alpha);

NSLog(@"Red Value: %f", red);
NSLog(@"Blue Value: %f", green);
NSLog(@"Green Value: %f", blue);

---

Macros:

#define rgba(r,g,b,a) [UIColor colorWithRed:((float)(r))/255.0f green:((float)(g))/255.0f blue:((float)(b))/255.0f alpha:a]
#define rgb(r,g,b) rgba(r, g, b, 1.0f)

#define rgbaf(r,g,b,a) [UIColor colorWithRed:(r) green:(g) blue:(b) alpha:a]
#define rgbf(r,g,b) rgbaf(r, g, b, 1.0f)

#define rgba_fromColor(__color, __r, __g, __b, __a) \
CGFloat __r, __g, __b, __a;\
UIColor *__unpackedColor = [NSKeyedUnarchiver unarchiveObjectWithData:[NSKeyedArchiver archivedDataWithRootObject:__color]];/*Bring system colors into compatible color-space (e.g. DarkGrayColor)*/\
[__unpackedColor getRed:&__r green:&__g blue:&__b alpha:&__a];
#define getRGBA(__color, __r, __g, __b, __a) hsba_fromColor(__color, __r, __g, __b, __a)

#define getRed(__color)  (\
(^float (void){\
rgba_fromColor(__color, r, g, b, a);\
return r;\
})()\
)

#define getGreen(__color)  (\
(^float (void){\
rgba_fromColor(__color, r, g, b, a);\
return g;\
})()\
)

#define getBlue(__color)  (\
(^float (void){\
rgba_fromColor(__color, r, g, b, a);\
return b;\
})()\
)

#define getAlpha(__color)  (\
(^float (void){\
rgba_fromColor(__color, r, g, b, a);\
return a;\
})()\
)










#define hsba(h,s,b,a) [UIColor colorWithHue:((float)(h))/360.0f saturation:((float)(s))/100.0f brightness:((float)(b))/100.0f alpha:a]
#define hsb(h,s,b) hsba(h, s, b, 1.0f)

#define hsbaf(h,s,b,a) [UIColor colorWithHue:(h) saturation:(s) brightness:(b) alpha:a]
#define hsbf(h,s,b) rgbaf(h, s, b, 1.0f)

#define hsba_fromColor(__color, __h, __s, __b, __a) \
CGFloat __h, __s, __b, __a;\
UIColor *__unpackedColor = [NSKeyedUnarchiver unarchiveObjectWithData:[NSKeyedArchiver archivedDataWithRootObject:__color]];/*Bring system colors into compatible color-space (e.g. DarkGrayColor)*/\
[__unpackedColor getHue:&__h saturation:&__s brightness:&__b alpha:&__a];
#define getHSBA(__color, __h, __s, __b, __a) rgba_fromColor(__color, __h, __s, __b, __a)

#define getHue(__color)  (\
(^float (void){\
hsba_fromColor(__color, h, s, b, a);\
return h;\
})()\
)

#define getSaturation(__color)  (\
(^float (void){\
hsba_fromColor(__color, h, s, b, a);\
return s;\
})()\
)

#define getBrightness(__color)  (\
(^float (void){\
hsba_fromColor(__color, h, s, b, a);\
return b;\
})()\
)

/*
///already defined in RGBA macros
#define getAlpha(__color)  (\
(^float (void){\
hsba_fromColor(__color, h, s, b, a);\
return a;\
})()\
)
*/

Answer 6

Since iOS 2.0 there is a private instance method on UIColor called styleString which returns an RGB or RGBA string representation of the color, even for colors like whiteColor outside the RGB space.

Objective-C:

@interface UIColor (Private)

- (NSString *)styleString;

@end

// ...

[[UIColor whiteColor] styleString]; // rgb(255,255,255)
[[UIColor redColor] styleString]; // rgb(255,0,0)
[[UIColor lightTextColor] styleString]; // rgba(255,255,255,0.600000)

In Swift you could use a bridging header to expose the interface. With pure Swift, you will need to create an @objc protocol with the private method, and unsafeBitCast UIColor with the protocol:

@objc protocol  UIColorPrivate {
    func styleString() -> String
}

let white = UIColor.whiteColor()
let red = UIColor.redColor()
let lightTextColor = UIColor.lightTextColor()

let whitePrivate = unsafeBitCast(white, UIColorPrivate.self)
let redPrivate = unsafeBitCast(red, UIColorPrivate.self)
let lightTextColorPrivate = unsafeBitCast(lightTextColor, UIColorPrivate.self)

whitePrivate.styleString() // rgb(255,255,255)
redPrivate.styleString() // rgb(255,0,0)
lightTextColorPrivate.styleString() // rgba(255,255,255,0.600000)