How can I ‘cut’ a transparent hole in a UIImage?

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Presume that your image is being displayed in a view – probably a UIImageView. Then we can punch a rectangular hole in that view by masking the view’s layer. Every view has a layer. We will apply to this view’s layer a mask which is itself a layer containing an image, which we will generate in code. The image will be black except for a clear rectangle somewhere in the middle. That clear rectangle will cause the hole in the image view.

So, let self.iv be this UIImageView. Try running this code:

CGRect r = self.iv.bounds;
CGRect r2 = CGRectMake(20,20,40,40); // adjust this as desired!
UIGraphicsBeginImageContextWithOptions(r.size, NO, 0);
CGContextRef c = UIGraphicsGetCurrentContext();
CGContextAddRect(c, r2);
CGContextAddRect(c, r);
CGContextEOClip(c);
CGContextSetFillColorWithColor(c, [UIColor blackColor].CGColor);
CGContextFillRect(c, r);
UIImage* maskim = UIGraphicsGetImageFromCurrentImageContext();
UIGraphicsEndImageContext();
CALayer* mask = [CALayer layer];
mask.frame = r;
mask.contents = (id)maskim.CGImage;
self.iv.layer.mask = mask;

For example, in this image, the white square is not a superimposed square, it is a hole, showing the white of the window background behind it:

enter image description here

EDIT: I feel obligated, since I mentioned it in a comment, to show how to do the same thing with a CAShapeLayer. The result is exactly the same:

CGRect r = self.iv.bounds;
CGRect r2 = CGRectMake(20,20,40,40); // adjust this as desired!
CAShapeLayer* lay = [CAShapeLayer layer];
CGMutablePathRef path = CGPathCreateMutable();
CGPathAddRect(path, nil, r2);
CGPathAddRect(path, nil, r);
lay.path = path;
CGPathRelease(path);
lay.fillRule = kCAFillRuleEvenOdd;
self.iv.layer.mask = lay;

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