Decoding Base64 String Returns nil

Question

I have been trying to implement GMAIL API in my application that is built using swift 5 and xcode. I have successfully retrieved the emails from the user but I am unable to get the actual text from the encoded string. Whenever I try to convert this base64 encoded data to Normal string, it returns nil.

Here is the string

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_RW1haWw9c2lkcmFpYnJhaGltMDM0OUBnbWFpbC5jb20mY29udGludWU9aHR0cHM6Ly9teWFjY291bnQuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS9hbGVydC9udC8xNTY3ODQ3ODEyMDAwP3JmbiUzRDEyNyUyNnJmbmMlM0QxJTI2ZWlkJTNELTE1NzQzMDEyNjk4Mjg2MTM3OTQlMjZldCUzRDElMjZhbmV4cCUzRGdpdmFiLWZhLS1tZHYyLWZhPg0KWW91IHJlY2VpdmVkIHRoaXMgZW1haWwgdG8gbGV0IHlvdSBrbm93IGFib3V0IGltcG9ydGFudCBjaGFuZ2VzIHRvIHlvdXINCkdvb2dsZSBBY2NvdW50IGFuZCBzZXJ2aWNlcy4NCsKpIDIwMTkgR29vZ2xlIExMQywgMTYwMCBBbXBoaXRoZWF0cmUgUGFya3dheSwgTW91bnRhaW4gVmlldywgQ0EgOTQwNDMsIFVTQQ0K

Some answers at stackoverflow suggested to add padding to string but that didn't work either.

I have tried all the solutions here but none worked. I have this code implemented right now.

extension String {

    func base64Encoded() -> String? {
        return data(using: .utf8)?.base64EncodedString()
    }

    func base64Decoded() -> String? {
        var st = self;
        print(st.count)
        let remainder = self.count % 4
        if remainder > 0 {
            st = self.padding(toLength: self.count + 4 - remainder,
                                          withPad: "=",
                                          startingAt: 0)
        }

        print(st.count)
        guard let d = Data(base64Encoded: st, options: .ignoreUnknownCharacters) else{
            return nil
        }
        return String(data: d, encoding: .utf8)
    }   
}

But this is not working. I would really appreciate if someone can figure out the issue.

OOPer · Accepted Answer · 2019-09-07 12:59:48Z

Your string contains underscore character ('_' U+005F LOW LINE), which is invalid as Base-64.

There are some variations of Base-64, so you need to find which one your Gmail something is using. (Wikipedia Base-64.)

Assuming it uses base64url URL- and filename-safe, you may need to write something like this:

extension String {
    func urlSafeBase64Decoded() -> String? {
        var st = self
            .replacingOccurrences(of: "_", with: "/")
            .replacingOccurrences(of: "-", with: "+")
        let remainder = self.count % 4
        if remainder > 0 {
            st = self.padding(toLength: self.count + 4 - remainder,
                              withPad: "=",
                              startingAt: 0)
        }
        guard let d = Data(base64Encoded: st, options: .ignoreUnknownCharacters) else{
            return nil
        }
        return String(data: d, encoding: .utf8)
    }
}

Example:

let base64 = "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_RW1haWw9c2lkcmFpYnJhaGltMDM0OUBnbWFpbC5jb20mY29udGludWU9aHR0cHM6Ly9teWFjY291bnQuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS9hbGVydC9udC8xNTY3ODQ3ODEyMDAwP3JmbiUzRDEyNyUyNnJmbmMlM0QxJTI2ZWlkJTNELTE1NzQzMDEyNjk4Mjg2MTM3OTQlMjZldCUzRDElMjZhbmV4cCUzRGdpdmFiLWZhLS1tZHYyLWZhPg0KWW91IHJlY2VpdmVkIHRoaXMgZW1haWwgdG8gbGV0IHlvdSBrbm93IGFib3V0IGltcG9ydGFudCBjaGFuZ2VzIHRvIHlvdXINCkdvb2dsZSBBY2NvdW50IGFuZCBzZXJ2aWNlcy4NCsKpIDIwMTkgR29vZ2xlIExMQywgMTYwMCBBbXBoaXRoZWF0cmUgUGFya3dheSwgTW91bnRhaW4gVmlldywgQ0EgOTQwNDMsIFVTQQ0K"

print(base64.urlSafeBase64Decoded() ?? "* decoding failed*")

Output:

You received this email to let you know about important changes to your
Google Account and services.
© 2019 Google LLC, 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA

That works amazingly. Thanks. I put 4-5 hours in this and started to wonder that if this is some type other encrypted string.

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