Question

I want to convert a string to a colorhexcode in JavaScript or php.

Is there a way to do that? The strings look like dfc6d9ff5a1d394e or
2b514f260aad317a.
The background is that these are unique ids and I want to convert them to unique colours…

Answer 1

If these IDs are reasonably random, ie: part of a hash or UUID try:

$str = 'dfc6d9ff5a1d394e';
$hexcolor = '#' . substr($str, 0, 6);
//output: #dfc6d9

or if they are somewhat more uniform and you’d like something a bit more ‘random’ without actually being random:

$str = 'dfc6d9ff5a1d394e';
$hexcolor = '#' . substr(md5($str), 0, 6);
//output: #8daadd

or if you want to get fancier here’s a previous answer with more in-depth code.