# CFURLCreateData(_:_:_:_:) Creates a `CFData` object containing the content of a given URL. ``` func CFURLCreateData(_ allocator: CFAllocator!, _ url: CFURL!, _ encoding: CFStringEncoding, _ escapeWhitespace: Bool) -> CFData! ``` ## Parameters `allocator` The allocator to use to allocate memory for the new `CFData` object. Pass `NULL` or [`kCFAllocatorDefault`](/documentation/CoreFoundation/kCFAllocatorDefault) to use the current default allocator. `url` The URL to convert into a `CFData` object. `encoding` The string encoding to use when converting `url` into a `CFData` object. `escapeWhitespace` `true` if you want to escape whitespace characters in the URL, `false` otherwise. ## Return Value A new `CFData` object containing the content of `url`. Ownership follows the create rule. See [The Create Rule](https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/documentation/CoreFoundation/Conceptual/CFMemoryMgmt/Concepts/Ownership.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/20001148-103029). ## Discussion This function escapes any character that is not 7-bit ASCII with the byte-code for the given encoding. If `escapeWhitespace` is `true`, whitespace characters (’ ’, ‘\t’, ‘\r’, ‘\n’) will be escaped as well. This is desirable if you want to embed the URL into a larger text stream like HTML. --- Copyright © 2026 Apple Inc. All rights reserved. | [Terms of Use](https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/terms/site.html) | [Privacy Policy](https://www.apple.com/privacy/privacy-policy)