Convert a hexadecimal string to an integer efficiently in C?

Try this:

#include <stdio.h>
int main()
{
    char s[] = "fffffffe";
    int x;
    sscanf(s, "%x", &x);
    printf("%u\n", x);
}

You want strtol or strtoul. See also the Unix man page

If you don't have the stdlib then you have to do it manually.

unsigned long hex2int(char *a, unsigned int len)
{
    int i;
    unsigned long val = 0;

    for(i=0;i<len;i++)
       if(a[i] <= 57)
        val += (a[i]-48)*(1<<(4*(len-1-i)));
       else
        val += (a[i]-55)*(1<<(4*(len-1-i)));

    return val;
}

Note: This code assumes uppercase A-F. It does not work if len is beyond your longest integer 32 or 64bits, and there is no error trapping for illegal hex characters.

Edit: Now compatible with MSVC, C++ and non-GNU compilers (see end).

The question was "most efficient way." The OP doesn't specify platform, he could be compiling for a RISC based ATMEL chip with 256 bytes of flash storage for his code.

For the record, and for those (like me), who appreciate the difference between "the easiest way" and the "most efficient way", and who enjoy learning...

static const long hextable[] = {
   [0 ... 255] = -1, // bit aligned access into this table is considerably
   ['0'] = 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, // faster for most modern processors,
   ['A'] = 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15,       // for the space conscious, reduce to
   ['a'] = 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15        // signed char.
};

/** 
 * @brief convert a hexidecimal string to a signed long
 * will not produce or process negative numbers except 
 * to signal error.
 * 
 * @param hex without decoration, case insensitive. 
 * 
 * @return -1 on error, or result (max (sizeof(long)*8)-1 bits)
 */
long hexdec(unsigned const char *hex) {
   long ret = 0; 
   while (*hex && ret >= 0) {
      ret = (ret << 4) | hextable[*hex++];
   }
   return ret; 
}

It requires no external libraries, and it should be blindingly fast. It handles uppercase, lowercase, invalid characters, odd-sized hex input (eg: 0xfff), and the maximum size is limited only by the compiler.

For non-GCC or C++ compilers or compilers that will not accept the fancy hextable declaration.

Replace the first statement with this (longer, but more conforming) version:

static const long hextable[] = { 
    -1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,
    -1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,
    -1,-1, 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,10,11,12,13,14,15,-1,
    -1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,
    -1,-1,10,11,12,13,14,15,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,
    -1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,
    -1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,
    -1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,
    -1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,
    -1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,
    -1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1
};