Q: Convert HTML to Plain Text in Swift I'm working on a simple RSS Reader app as a beginner project in Xcode. I currently have it set up that it parses the feed, and places the title, pub date, description and content and displays it in a WebView.
I recently decided to show the description (or a truncated version of the content) in the TableView used to select a post. However, when doing so:
cell.textLabel?.text = item.title?.uppercaseString
cell.detailTextLabel?.text = item.itemDescription //.itemDescription is a String

It shows the raw HTML of the post.
I would like to know how to convert the HTML into plain text for just the TableView's detailed UILabel.
Thanks!

A: Swift 4, Xcode 9
extension String {
    
    var utfData: Data {
        return Data(utf8)
    }
    
    var attributedHtmlString: NSAttributedString? {
        
        do {
            return try NSAttributedString(data: utfData, options: [
              .documentType: NSAttributedString.DocumentType.html,
              .characterEncoding: String.Encoding.utf8.rawValue
            ], 
            documentAttributes: nil)
        } catch {
            print("Error:", error)
            return nil
        }
    }
}

extension UILabel {
   func setAttributedHtmlText(_ html: String) {
      if let attributedText = html.attributedHtmlString {
         self.attributedText = attributedText
      } 
   }
}


A: Here is my suggested answer. Instead of extension, if you want to put inside function. 
func decodeString(encodedString:String) -> NSAttributedString?
    {
        let encodedData = encodedString.dataUsingEncoding(NSUTF8StringEncoding)!
        do {
            return try NSAttributedString(data: encodedData, options: [NSDocumentTypeDocumentAttribute:NSHTMLTextDocumentType,NSCharacterEncodingDocumentAttribute:NSUTF8StringEncoding], documentAttributes: nil)
        } catch let error as NSError {
            print(error.localizedDescription)
            return nil
        }
    }

And call that function and cast NSAttributedString to String
let attributedString = self.decodeString(encodedString)
let message = attributedString.string


A: You can add this extension to convert your html code to a regular string:
edit/update:

Discussion The HTML importer should not be called from a background
  thread (that is, the options dictionary includes documentType with a
  value of html). It will try to synchronize with the main thread, fail,
  and time out. Calling it from the main thread works (but can still
  time out if the HTML contains references to external resources, which
  should be avoided at all costs). The HTML import mechanism is meant
  for implementing something like markdown (that is, text styles,
  colors, and so on), not for general HTML import.

Xcode 11.4 • Swift 5.2
extension Data {
    var html2AttributedString: NSAttributedString? {
        do {
            return try NSAttributedString(data: self, options: [.documentType: NSAttributedString.DocumentType.html, .characterEncoding: String.Encoding.utf8.rawValue], documentAttributes: nil)
        } catch {
            print("error:", error)
            return  nil
        }
    }
    var html2String: String { html2AttributedString?.string ?? "" }
}


extension StringProtocol {
    var html2AttributedString: NSAttributedString? {
        Data(utf8).html2AttributedString
    }
    var html2String: String {
        html2AttributedString?.string ?? ""
    }
}


cell.detailTextLabel?.text = item.itemDescription.html2String


A: Please test with this code for the detailTextLabel:
var attrStr = NSAttributedString(
        data: item.itemDescription.dataUsingEncoding(NSUnicodeStringEncoding, allowLossyConversion: true),
        options: [ NSDocumentTypeDocumentAttribute: NSHTMLTextDocumentType],
        documentAttributes: nil,
        error: nil)
cell.detailTextLabel?.text = attrStr


A: Try this solution in swift3
extension String{
    func convertHtml() -> NSAttributedString{
        guard let data = data(using: .utf8) else { return NSAttributedString() }
        do{
            return try NSAttributedString(data: data, options: [NSDocumentTypeDocumentAttribute: NSHTMLTextDocumentType, NSCharacterEncodingDocumentAttribute: String.Encoding.utf8.rawValue], documentAttributes: nil)
        }catch{
            return NSAttributedString()
        }
    }
}

To use 
self.lblValDesc.attributedText = str_postdescription.convertHtml()


A: Swift4.0 Extension
 extension String {
    var html2AttributedString: String? {
    guard let data = data(using: .utf8) else { return nil }
    do {
        return try NSAttributedString(data: data, options: [.documentType: NSAttributedString.DocumentType.html, .characterEncoding: String.Encoding.utf8.rawValue], documentAttributes: nil).string

    } catch let error as NSError {
        print(error.localizedDescription)
        return  nil
    }
  }
}


A: i have used Danboz answer, only changed it to return a simple String (not a rich text string):
static func htmlToText(encodedString:String) -> String?
{
    let encodedData = encodedString.dataUsingEncoding(NSUTF8StringEncoding)!
    do
    {
        return try NSAttributedString(data: encodedData, options: [NSDocumentTypeDocumentAttribute:NSHTMLTextDocumentType,NSCharacterEncodingDocumentAttribute:NSUTF8StringEncoding], documentAttributes: nil).string
    } catch let error as NSError {
        print(error.localizedDescription)
        return nil
    }
}

for me, it works like a charm, thanks Danboz

A: let content = givenString // html included string
let attrStr = try! NSAttributedString(data: content.data(using: String.Encoding.unicode, allowLossyConversion: true)!,options: [ NSDocumentTypeDocumentAttribute: NSHTMLTextDocumentType],documentAttributes: nil)
self.labelName.attributedText = attrStr    

