Utilities¶

The utility functions provide a large assortment of common utility functions required to write dapps, process user input and format data.

Addresses¶

There are several formats available to represent Ethereum addresses and various ways they are determined.

^utils . getAddress ( address ) ^=> ^Address: Normalize any supported address-format to a checksum address.
^utils . getIcapAddress ( address ) ^=> ^hex: Normalize any supported address-format to a ICAP address.
^utils . getContractAddress ( transaction ) ^=> ^Address: Computes the contract address of a contract deployed by transaction. The only properties used are from and nonce.

convert between address formats¶

let address = "0xd115bffabbdd893a6f7cea402e7338643ced44a6";
let icapAddress = "XE93OF8SR0OWI6F4FO88KWO4UNNGG1FEBHI";

console.log(utils.getAddress(address));
// "0xD115BFFAbbdd893A6f7ceA402e7338643Ced44a6"

console.log(utils.getAddress(icapAddress));
// "0xD115BFFAbbdd893A6f7ceA402e7338643Ced44a6"

console.log(utils.getAddress(address, true));
// "XE93OF8SR0OWI6F4FO88KWO4UNNGG1FEBHI"

console.log(utils.getAddress(icapAddress, true));
// "XE93OF8SR0OWI6F4FO88KWO4UNNGG1FEBHI"

determine a contract address¶

// Ropsten: 0x5bdfd14fcc917abc2f02a30721d152a6f147f09e8cbaad4e0d5405d646c5c3e1
let transaction = {
    from: '0xc6af6e1a78a6752c7f8cd63877eb789a2adb776c',
    nonce: 0
};

console.log(utils.getContractAddress(transaction));
// "0x0CcCC7507aEDf9FEaF8C8D731421746e16b4d39D"

Arrayish¶

An arrayish object is used to describe binary data and has the following conditions met:

has a length property

has a value for each index from 0 up to (but excluding) length

has a valid byte for each value; a byte is an integer in the range [0, 255]

is not a string

Examples: Buffer, [ 1, 2, 3 ], Uint8Array

^utils . isArrayish ( object ) ^=> ^boolean: Returns true if object can be treated as an arrayish object.
^utils . arrayify ( hexStringOrBigNumberOrArrayish ) ^=> ^Uint8Array: Returns a Uint8Array of a hex string, BigNumber or of an Arrayish object.
^utils . concat ( arrayOfHexStringsAndArrayish ) ^=> ^Uint8Array: Return a Uint8Array of all arrayOfHexStringsAndArrayish concatenated.
^utils . padZeros ( typedUint8Array, length ) ^=> ^Uint8Array: Return a Uint8Array of typedUint8Array with zeros prepended to length bytes.
^utils . stripZeros ( hexStringOrArrayish ) ^=> ^Uint8Array: Returns a Uint8Array with all leading zero bytes striped.

Big Numbers¶

A BigNumber is an immutable object which allow accurate math operations on values larger than JavaScript can accurately handle can safely handle. Also see: Constants

^prototype . add ( otherValue ) ^=> ^BigNumber

Return a new BigNumber of this plus otherValue.

^prototype . sub ( otherValue ) ^=> ^BigNumber

Return a new BigNumber of this minus otherValue.

^prototype . mul ( otherValue ) ^=> ^BigNumber

Return a new BigNumber of this times otherValue.

^prototype . div ( otherValue ) ^=> ^BigNumber

Return a new BigNumber of this divided by otherValue.

^prototype . mod ( otherValue ) ^=> ^BigNumber

Return a new BigNumber of this modulo otherValue.

^prototype . maskn ( bits ) ^=> ^BigNumber

Return a new BigNumber with the number of bits masked.

^prototype . eq ( otherValue ) ^=> ^boolean

Return true if this is equal to otherValue.

^prototype . lt ( otherValue ) ^=> ^boolean

Return true if this is less than otherValue.

^prototype . lte ( otherValue ) ^=> ^boolean

Return true if this is less or equal to otherValue.

^prototype . gt ( otherValue ) ^=> ^boolean

Return true if this is greater than otherValue.

^prototype . gte ( otherValue ) ^=> ^boolean

Return true if this is greater than or equal to otherValue.

^prototype . isZero ( ) ^=> ^boolean

Return true if this is equal to zero.

^prototype . toNumber ( ) ^=> ^number

Return a JavaScript number of the value.

An error is thrown if the value is outside the safe range for JavaScript IEEE 754 64-bit floating point numbers (over 53 bits of mantissa).

^prototype . toString () ^=> ^string

Return a decimal string representation.

^prototype . toHexString ( ) ^=> ^hex

Return a hexstring representation of the value.

Creating Instances¶

^utils . bigNumberify ( value ) ^=> ^BigNumber

Returns a BigNumber instance of value. The value may be anything that can reliably be converted into a BigNumber:

Type	Examples	Notes
decimal string	`"42"`, `"-42"`
hexadecimal string	`"0x2a"`, `"-0x2a"`	case-insensitive
numbers	`42`, `-42`	must be witin the safe range
Arrayish	`[ 30, 252 ]`	big-endian encoding
BigNumber	any other BigNumber	returns the same instance

examples¶

let gasPriceWei = utils.bigNumberify("20902747399");
let gasLimit = utils.bigNumberify(3000000);

let maxCostWei = gasPriceWei.mul(gasLimit)
console.log("Max Cost: " + maxCostWei.toString());
// "Max Cost: 62708242197000000"

console.log("Number: " + maxCostWei.toNumber());
// throws an Error, the value is too large for JavaScript to handle safely

Bytes32 Strings¶

Often for short strings, it is far more efficient to store them as a fixed, null-terminated bytes32, instead of a dynamic length-prefixed bytes.

^utils . formatBytes32String ( text ) ^=> ^hex

Returns a hex string representation of text, exactly 32 bytes wide. Strings must be 31 bytes or shorter, or an exception is thrown.

NOTE: Keep in mind that UTF-8 characters outside the ASCII range can be multiple bytes long.

^utils . parseBytes32String ( hexStringOrArrayish ) ^=> ^string

Returns hexStringOrArrayish as the original string, as generated by formatBytes32String.

example¶

let text = "Hello World!"

let bytes32 = ethers.utils.formatBytes32String(text)
// "0x48656c6c6f20576f726c64210000000000000000000000000000000000000000"

let originalText = ethers.utils.parseBytes32String(bytes32)
// "Hello World!"

Constants¶

^{ethers . constants} . AddressZero: The address 0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000.
^{ethers . constants} . HashZero: The bytes32 0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000.
^{ethers . constants} . MaxUint256: The bytes32 0xffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff.
^{ethers . constants} . NegativeOne: The BigNumber bigNumberify(-1).
^{ethers . constants} . Zero: The BigNumber bigNumberify(0).
^{ethers . constants} . One: The BigNumber bigNumberify(1).
^{ethers . constants} . Two: The BigNumber bigNumberify(2).
^{ethers . constants} . WeiPerEther: The BigNumber bigNumberify("1000000000000000000").
^{ethers . constants} . EtherSymbol: The Greek character Xi, used as the symbol for ether.

Cryptographic Functions¶

Elliptic Curve¶

^utils . computeAddress ( publicOrPrivateKey ) ^=> ^Address: Computes the Ethereum address given a public key or private key.
^utils . computePublicKey ( publicOrPrivateKey [ , compressed ^{= false} ] ) ^=> ^hex: Compute the public key for publicOrPrivateKey, optionally compressed. If publicOrPrivateKey is a public key, it may be either compressed or uncompressed.
^utils . recoverAddress ( digest , signature ) ^=> ^Address: Returns the Ethereum address by using ecrecover with the digest for the signature.
^utils . recoverPublicKey ( digest , signature ) ^=> ^hex: Returns the public key by using ecrecover with the digest for the signature.
^utils . verifyMessage ( messageStringOrArrayish , signature ) ^=> ^Addresss: Returns the address of the account that signed messageStringOrArrayish to generate signature.

verify a message signature¶

let signature = "0xddd0a7290af9526056b4e35a077b9a11b513aa0028ec6c9880948544508f3c63" +
                  "265e99e47ad31bb2cab9646c504576b3abc6939a1710afc08cbf3034d73214b8" +
                  "1c";

let signingAddress = Wallet.verifyMessage('hello world', signature);

console.log(signingAddress);
// "0x14791697260E4c9A71f18484C9f997B308e59325"

Hash Functions¶

^utils . keccak256 ( hexStringOrArrayish ) ^=> ^hex: Compute the keccak256 cryptographic hash of a value, returned as a hex string. (Note: often Ethereum documentation refers to this, incorrectly, as SHA3)
^utils . sha256 ( hexStringOrArrayish ) ^=> ^hex: Compute the SHA2-256 cryptographic hash of a value, returned as a hex string.

hashing binary data¶

console.log(utils.keccak256([ 0x42 ]));
// '0x1f675bff07515f5df96737194ea945c36c41e7b4fcef307b7cd4d0e602a69111'

console.log(utils.keccak256("0x42"));
// '0x1f675bff07515f5df96737194ea945c36c41e7b4fcef307b7cd4d0e602a69111'


console.log(utils.sha256([ 0x42 ]));
// '0xdf7e70e5021544f4834bbee64a9e3789febc4be81470df629cad6ddb03320a5c'

console.log(utils.sha256("0x42"));
// '0xdf7e70e5021544f4834bbee64a9e3789febc4be81470df629cad6ddb03320a5c'

Hash Function Helpers¶

^utils . hashMessage ( stringOrArrayish ) ^=> ^hex: Compute the prefixed message hash of a stringOrArrayish, by converting the message to bytes (as necessary) and prefixing with \x19Ethereum Signed Message\n and the length of the message. See the eth_sign JSON-RPC method for more information.
^utils . id ( utf8String ) ^=> ^hex: Compute the keccak256 cryptographic hash of a UTF-8 string, returned as a hex string.

hashing utf-8 strings¶

// Convert the string to binary data
let message = "Hello World";
let messageBytes = utils.toUtf8Bytes(message);
utils.keccak256(messageBytes);
// '0x592fa743889fc7f92ac2a37bb1f5ba1daf2a5c84741ca0e0061d243a2e6707ba'

// Which is equivalent to using the id function
utils.id("Hello World");
// '0x592fa743889fc7f92ac2a37bb1f5ba1daf2a5c84741ca0e0061d243a2e6707ba'


// Compute the sighash for a Solidity method
console.log(utils.id("addr(bytes32)"));
// '0x3b3b57de213591bb50e06975ea011e4c8c4b3e6de4009450c1a9e55f66e4bfa4'

Key Derivation¶

^utils . pbkdf2 ( password , salt , iterations , keylen , hashAlgorithm ): Return the pbkdf2 derived key from password and salt with iterations of length using the hashAlgorithm. The supported hash algorithms are sha256 and sha512.

Random¶

^utils . randomBytes ( length ) ^=> ^Uint8Array: Return a Uint8Array of cryptographically secure random bytes

generate random bytes¶

let randomBytes3 = utils.randomBytes(3)
// Uint8Array [ 194, 22, 140 ]

let randomBytes32 = utils.randomBytes(32)
// Uint8Array [ 162, 131, 117, 110, 196, 73, 144, 177, 201, 75, 88,
//              105, 227, 210, 104, 226, 82, 65, 103, 157, 36, 170,
//              214, 92, 190, 141, 239, 54, 96, 39, 240, 95 ]

generate a random number¶

let randomNumber = utils.bigNumberify(utils.randomBytes(32));
// BigNumber { _hex: 0x617542634156966e0bbb6c673bf88015f542c96eb115186fd93881518f05f7ff }

Solidity¶

Solidity uses a non-standard packed mode to encode parameters that are passed into its hashing functions. The parameter types and values can be used to compute the result of the hash functions as would be performed by Solidity.

^utils . solidityKeccak256 ( types, values ) ^=> ^hex: Compute the keccak256 cryptographic hash using the Solidity non-standard (tightly) packed data for values given the types.
^utils . soliditySha256 ( types, values ) ^=> ^hex: Compute the SHA256 cryptographic hash using the Solidity non-standard (tightly) packed data for values given the types.
^utils . solidityPack ( types, values ) ^=> ^hex: Compute the Solidity non-standard (tightly) packed data for values given the types.

examples¶

let result = utils.solidityKeccak256([ 'int8', 'bytes1', 'string' ], [ -1, '0x42', 'hello' ]);
console.log(result);
// '0x52d7e6a62ca667228365be2143375d0a2a92a3bd4325dd571609dfdc7026686e'

result = utils.soliditySha256([ 'int8', 'bytes1', 'string' ], [ -1, '0x42', 'hello' ]);
console.log(result);
// '0x1eaebba7999af2691d823bf0c817e635bbe7e89ec7ed32a11e00ca94e86cbf37'

result = utils.solidityPack([ 'int8', 'bytes1', 'string' ], [ -1, '0x42', 'hello' ]);
console.log(result);
// '0xff4268656c6c6f'

Ether Strings and Wei¶

^utils . etherSymbol: The ethereum symbol (the Greek letter Xi )

^utils . parseEther ( etherString ) ^=> ^BigNumber: Parse the etherString representation of ether into a BigNumber instance of the amount of wei.

^utils . formatEther ( wei ) ^=> ^string: Format an amount of wei into a decimal string representing the amount of ether. The output will always include at least one whole number and at least one decimal place, otherwise leading and trailing 0’s will be trimmed.

^utils . parseUnits ( valueString , decimalsOrUnitName ) ^=> ^BigNumber: Parse the valueString representation of units into a BigNumber instance of the amount of wei. The decimalsOrUnitsName may be a number of decimals between 3 and 18 (multiple of 3) or a name, such as gwei.

^utils . formatUnits ( wei , decimalsOrUnitName ) ^=> ^string: Format an amount of wei into a decimal string representing the amount of units. The output will always include at least one whole number and at least one decimal place, otherwise leading and trailing 0’s will be trimmed. The decimalsOrUnitsName may be a number of decimals between 3 and 18 (multiple of 3) or a name, such as gwei.
^utils . commify ( numberOrString ) ^=> ^string: Returns numberOrString with commas placed at every third position within the whole component. If numberOrString contains a decimal point, the output will as well with at least one digit for both the whole and decimal components. If there no decimal, then the output will also not contain a decimal.

examples¶

let wei = utils.parseEther('1000.0');
console.log(wei.toString(10));
// "1000000000000000000000"

console.log(utils.formatEther(0));
// "0.0"

let wei = utils.bigNumberify("1000000000000000000000");

console.log(utils.formatEther(wei));
// "1000.0"

console.log(utils.formatEther(wei, {commify: true}));
// "1,000.0"

console.log(utils.formatEther(wei, {pad: true}));
// "1000.000000000000000000"       (18 decimal places)

console.log(utils.formatEther(wei, {commify: true, pad: true}));
// "1,000.000000000000000000"      (18 decimal places)

Hex Strings¶

A hex string is always prefixed with “0x” and consists of the characters 0 – 9 and a – f. It is always returned lower case with even-length, but any hex string passed into a function may be any case and may be odd-length.

^utils . hexlify ( numberOrBigNumberOrHexStringOrArrayish ) ^=> ^hex: Converts any number, BigNumber, hex string or Arrayish to a hex string. (otherwise, throws an error)
^utils . isHexString ( value ) ^=> ^boolean: Returns true if value is a valid hexstring.
^utils . hexDataLength ( hexString ) ^=> ^number: Returns the length (in bytes) of hexString if it is a valid data hexstring (even length).
^utils . hexDataSlice ( hexString , offset [ , endOffset ] ) ^=> ^hex: Returns a string for the subdata of hexString from offset bytes (each byte is two nibbled) to endOffset bytes. If no endOffset is specified, the result is to the end of the hexString is used. Each byte is two nibbles.
^utils . hexStripZeros ( hexString ) ^=> ^hex: Returns hexString with all leading zeros removed, but retaining at least one nibble, even if zero (e.g. 0x0). This may return an odd-length string.
^utils . hexZeroPad ( hexString , length ) ^=> ^hex: Returns hexString padded (on the left) with zeros to length bytes (each byte is two nibbles).

Namehash¶

^utils . namehash ( ensName ) ^=> ^hex: Compute the namehash of ensName. Currently only supports the characters [a-z0-9.-]. The concerns with fully supporting UTF-8 are largely security releated, but are open for discussion.

examples¶

let namehash = utils.namehash('ricmoo.firefly.eth');
// "0x0bcad17ecf260d6506c6b97768bdc2acfb6694445d27ffd3f9c1cfbee4a9bd6d"

Signatures¶

There are two common formats for signatures in Ethereum. The flat-format, which is a hexstring with 65 bytes (130 nibbles); or an expanded-format, which is an object with the properties:

r and s — the (r, s) public point of a signature

recoveryParam — the recovery parameter of a signautre (either 0 or 1)

v — the recovery param nomalized for Solidity (either 27 or 28)

^utils . splitSignature ( hexStringOrArrayishOrSignature ) ^=> ^Signature: Returns an expanded-format signature object for hexStringOrArrayishOrSignature. Passing in an signature that is already in the expanded-format will ensure both recoveryParam and v are populated.
^utils . joinSignature ( signature ) ^=> ^hex: Returns the flat-format signature hexstring of signature. The final v byte will always be normalized to 0x1b of 0x1c.

To Expanded-Format¶

// Flat-format; this is the format provided by JSON-RPC responses
let flat = "0x0ba9770fd8778383f6d56faadc71e17b75f0d6e3ff0a408d5e6c4cee3bd70a16" +
             "3574da0ebfb1eaac261698b057b342e52ea53f85287272cea471a4cda41e3466" +
             "1b"
let expanded = utils.splitSignature(flat);

console.log(expanded);
// {
//    r: "0x0ba9770fd8778383f6d56faadc71e17b75f0d6e3ff0a408d5e6c4cee3bd70a16",
//    s: "0x3574da0ebfb1eaac261698b057b342e52ea53f85287272cea471a4cda41e3466",
//    recoveryParam: 0,
//    v: 27
// }

To Flat-Format¶

// Expanded-format; this is the format Solidity and other tools often require
let expanded = {
    r: "0x0ba9770fd8778383f6d56faadc71e17b75f0d6e3ff0a408d5e6c4cee3bd70a16",
    s: "0x3574da0ebfb1eaac261698b057b342e52ea53f85287272cea471a4cda41e3466",
    recoveryParam: 0,
    v: 27
}
let flat = utils.joinSignature(expanded);

console.log(flat)
// "0x0ba9770fd8778383f6d56faadc71e17b75f0d6e3ff0a408d5e6c4cee3bd70a16" +
//   "3574da0ebfb1eaac261698b057b342e52ea53f85287272cea471a4cda41e3466" +
//   "1b"

Transactions¶

^utils . serializeTransaction ( transaction [ , signature ] ) ^=> ^hex

Serialize transaction as a hex-string, optionally including the signature.

If signature is provided, it may be either the Flat Format or the Expanded Format, and the serialized transaction will be a signed transaction.

^utils . parseTransaction ( rawTransaction ) ^=> ^Transaction

Parse the serialized transaction, returning an object with the properties:

to

nonce

gasPrice

gasLimit

data

value

chainId

If the transactions is signed, addition properties will be present:

r, s and v — the signature public point and recoveryParam (adjusted for the chainId)

from — the address of the account that signed the transaction

hash — the transaction hash

UTF-8 Strings¶

^utils . toUtf8Bytes ( string ) ^=> ^Uint8Array: Converts a UTF-8 string to a Uint8Array.

^utils . toUtf8String ( hexStringOrArrayish , [ ignoreErrors ^{= false} ) ^=> ^string: Converts a hex-encoded string or array to its UTF-8 representation.

To UTF-8 Bytes¶

let text = "Hello World";

let bytes = utils.toUtf8Bytes(text);

console.log(bytes);
// Uint8Array [72, 101, 108, 108, 111, 32, 87, 111, 114, 108, 100]

To UTF-8 String¶

let array = [72, 101, 108, 108, 111, 32, 87, 111, 114, 108, 100];

let stringFromArray = utils.toUtf8String(array)

console.log(stringFromArray);
// "Hello World"

let hexString = "0x48656c6c6f20576f726c64";
let stringFromHexString = utils.toUtf8String(hexString);

console.log(stringFromHexString);
// "Hello World"

Web¶

^utils . fetchJson ( urlOrInfo [ , processFunc ] ) ^=> ^Promise<any>

Returns a Promise of the contents of urlOrInfo, processed by processFunc.

The urlOrInfo may also be specified as an object with the properties:

url — the JSON-RPC URL (required)

user — a username to use for Basic Authentication (optional)

password — a password to use for Basic Authentication (optional)

allowInsecure — allow Basic Authentication over an insecure HTTP network (default: false)

timeout — number of milliseconds to abort the request (default: 2 minutes)

headers — additional headers to send to the server (case insensitive)

^utils . poll ( func , [ options ] ) ^=> ^Promise<any>

Poll using the function func, resolving when it does not return undefined. By default this method will use the exponential back-off algorithm.

The options is an object with the properties:

timeout — after this many millisecconds, the promise will reject with a timeout error (default: no timeout)

floor — minimum amount of time between polling (default: 0)

ceiling — minimum amount of time between polling (default: 10s)

interval — the interval to use for exponential backoff (default: 250ms)

onceBlock — a function which takes 2 parameters, the string block and a callback func; polling will occur everytime func is called; any provider can be passed in for this property