Ruby method to process NSMutableAttributedString blob values from iMessage chat.db.

NSMutableAttributedString.rb

# Parse attributedBody blob values into ASCII text.

# Grab HEX(attributedBody) from chat.db and unfark it
def unfark_imessage_attributed_body(hex_string)
  wtf_string = [hex_string].pack("H*").encode('UTF-8', 'binary', invalid: :replace, undef: :replace, replace: ' ')
  wtf_string.gsub!(/\s+/, ' ')
  if wtf_string.include? 'NSNumber'
    wtf_string = wtf_string.split('NSNumber')[0]
    if wtf_string.include? 'NSString'
      wtf_string = wtf_string.split('NSString')[1]
      if wtf_string.include? 'NSDictionary'
        wtf_string = wtf_string.split('NSDictionary')[0]
        # highly suspect and brittle code to clean up the last bit of blob flotsam
        if wtf_string.include? "\u0001+ \u0000"
          wtf_string = wtf_string.split("\u0001+ \u0000")[1]
        end
        if wtf_string.include? "\u0001 \u0001+"
          wtf_string = wtf_string.split("\u0001 \u0001")[1][2..]
        end
        if wtf_string.include? "\u0002iI\u0001"
          wtf_string = wtf_string.split("\u0002iI\u0001")[0]
        end
      end
    end
  end
  return wtf_string
end