Convert hex color to RGB values in PHP

Note: both versions of rgbToHex expect integer values for r, g and b, so you'll need to do your own rounding if you have non-integer values.

The following will do to the RGB to hex conversion and add any required zero padding:

function componentToHex(c) {
  var hex = c.toString(16);
  return hex.length == 1 ? "0" + hex : hex;
}

function rgbToHex(r, g, b) {
  return "#" + componentToHex(r) + componentToHex(g) + componentToHex(b);
}

alert(rgbToHex(0, 51, 255)); // #0033ff

Converting the other way:

function hexToRgb(hex) {
  var result = /^#?([a-fd]{2})([a-fd]{2})([a-fd]{2})$/i.exec(hex);
  return result ? {
    r: parseInt(result[1], 16),
    g: parseInt(result[2], 16),
    b: parseInt(result[3], 16)
  } : null;
}

alert(hexToRgb("#0033ff").g); // "51";

Finally, an alternative version of rgbToHex(), as discussed in @casablanca's answer and suggested in the comments by @cwolves:

function rgbToHex(r, g, b) {
  return "#" + ((1 << 24) + (r << 16) + (g << 8) + b).toString(16).slice(1);
}

alert(rgbToHex(0, 51, 255)); // #0033ff

Update 3 December 2012

Here's a version of hexToRgb() that also parses a shorthand hex triplet such as "#03F":

function hexToRgb(hex) {
  // Expand shorthand form (e.g. "03F") to full form (e.g. "0033FF")
  var shorthandRegex = /^#?([a-fd])([a-fd])([a-fd])$/i;
  hex = hex.replace(shorthandRegex, function(m, r, g, b) {
    return r + r + g + g + b + b;
  });

  var result = /^#?([a-fd]{2})([a-fd]{2})([a-fd]{2})$/i.exec(hex);
  return result ? {
    r: parseInt(result[1], 16),
    g: parseInt(result[2], 16),
    b: parseInt(result[3], 16)
  } : null;
}

alert(hexToRgb("#0033ff").g); // "51";
alert(hexToRgb("#03f").g); // "51";

Real answer: Depends on what kind of hexadecimal color value you are looking for (e.g. 565, 555, 888, 8888, etc), the amount of alpha bits, the actual color distribution (rgb vs bgr...) and a ton of other variables.

Here's a generic algorithm for most RGB values using C++ templates (straight from ScummVM).

template<class T>
uint32 RGBToColor(uint8 r, uint8 g, uint8 b) {
return T::kAlphaMask |
       (((r << T::kRedShift) >> (8 - T::kRedBits)) & T::kRedMask) |
       (((g << T::kGreenShift) >> (8 - T::kGreenBits)) & T::kGreenMask) |
       (((b << T::kBlueShift) >> (8 - T::kBlueBits)) & T::kBlueMask);
}

Here's a sample color struct for 565 (the standard format for 16 bit colors):

template<>
struct ColorMasks<565> {
enum {
    highBits    = 0xF7DEF7DE,
    lowBits     = 0x08210821,
    qhighBits   = 0xE79CE79C,
    qlowBits    = 0x18631863,


    kBytesPerPixel = 2,

    kAlphaBits  = 0,
    kRedBits    = 5,
    kGreenBits  = 6,
    kBlueBits   = 5,

    kAlphaShift = kRedBits+kGreenBits+kBlueBits,
    kRedShift   = kGreenBits+kBlueBits,
    kGreenShift = kBlueBits,
    kBlueShift  = 0,

    kAlphaMask = ((1 << kAlphaBits) - 1) << kAlphaShift,
    kRedMask   = ((1 << kRedBits) - 1) << kRedShift,
    kGreenMask = ((1 << kGreenBits) - 1) << kGreenShift,
    kBlueMask  = ((1 << kBlueBits) - 1) << kBlueShift,

    kRedBlueMask = kRedMask | kBlueMask

};
};