SHA256 in swift

Updated for Swift 5.

Put this extension somewhere in your project and use it on a string like this: mystring.sha256(), or on data with data.sha256()

import Foundation
import CommonCrypto

extension Data{
    public func sha256() -> String{
        return hexStringFromData(input: digest(input: self as NSData))
    }
    
    private func digest(input : NSData) -> NSData {
        let digestLength = Int(CC_SHA256_DIGEST_LENGTH)
        var hash = [UInt8](repeating: 0, count: digestLength)
        CC_SHA256(input.bytes, UInt32(input.length), &hash)
        return NSData(bytes: hash, length: digestLength)
    }
    
    private  func hexStringFromData(input: NSData) -> String {
        var bytes = [UInt8](repeating: 0, count: input.length)
        input.getBytes(&bytes, length: input.length)
        
        var hexString = ""
        for byte in bytes {
            hexString += String(format:"%02x", UInt8(byte))
        }
        
        return hexString
    }
}

public extension String {
    func sha256() -> String{
        if let stringData = self.data(using: String.Encoding.utf8) {
            return stringData.sha256()
        }
        return ""
    }
}

With CryptoKit added in iOS13, we now have native Swift API:

import Foundation
import CryptoKit

// CryptoKit.Digest utils
extension Digest {
    var bytes: [UInt8] { Array(makeIterator()) }
    var data: Data { Data(bytes) }

    var hexStr: String {
        bytes.map { String(format: "%02X", $0) }.joined()
    }
}

func example() {
    guard let data = "hello world".data(using: .utf8) else { return }
    let digest = SHA256.hash(data: data)
    print(digest.data) // 32 bytes
    print(digest.hexStr) // B94D27B9934D3E08A52E52D7DA7DABFAC484EFE37A5380EE9088F7ACE2EFCDE9
}

Because utils are defined for protocol Digest, you can use it for all digest type in CryptoKit, like SHA384Digest, SHA512Digest, SHA1Digest, MD5Digest...

You have to convert explicitly between Int and CC_LONG, because Swift does not do implicit conversions, as in (Objective-)C.

You also have to define hash as an array of the required size.

func sha256(data : NSData) -> NSData {
    var hash = [UInt8](count: Int(CC_SHA256_DIGEST_LENGTH), repeatedValue: 0)
    CC_SHA256(data.bytes, CC_LONG(data.length), &hash)
    let res = NSData(bytes: hash, length: Int(CC_SHA256_DIGEST_LENGTH))
    return res
}

Alternatively, you can use NSMutableData to allocate the needed buffer:

func sha256(data : NSData) -> NSData {
    let res = NSMutableData(length: Int(CC_SHA256_DIGEST_LENGTH))
    CC_SHA256(data.bytes, CC_LONG(data.length), UnsafeMutablePointer(res.mutableBytes))
    return res
}

Update for Swift 3 and 4:

func sha256(data : Data) -> Data {
    var hash = [UInt8](repeating: 0,  count: Int(CC_SHA256_DIGEST_LENGTH))
    data.withUnsafeBytes {
        _ = CC_SHA256($0, CC_LONG(data.count), &hash)
    }
    return Data(bytes: hash)
}

Update for Swift 5:

func sha256(data : Data) -> Data {
    var hash = [UInt8](repeating: 0,  count: Int(CC_SHA256_DIGEST_LENGTH))
    data.withUnsafeBytes {
        _ = CC_SHA256($0.baseAddress, CC_LONG(data.count), &hash)
    }
    return Data(hash)
}