Convert a String to Character Array in Java

Last Updated : 04 Jan, 2025
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Converting a string to a character array is a common operation in Java. We convert string to char array in Java mostly for string manipulation, iteration, or other processing of characters. In this article, we will learn various ways to convert a string into a character array in Java with examples.

Example:

The toCharArray() method is the simplest and most efficient way to convert a string to a character array.

Java 
// Java Program to Convert a String to a Character Array 
// using toCharArray()
import java.util.Arrays;

public class StringToCharArray {
  
    public static void main(String[] args) {
      
        // Defining a string
        String s = "Java";

        // Converting the string to a character array
        char[] c = s.toCharArray();

        System.out.println("" + Arrays.toString(c));
    }
}

Output
[J, a, v, a]

Note: We can use the charAt() method, that returns the character at the specified index of a string., where the index is zero-based.

Other Ways to Convert a String to Character Array

Using Streams (Java 8+)

Java Streams provide a functional way to convert a string into characters and process them for modern Java applications.

Java 
// Java Program to Convert String to Character Array 
// Using Streams
import java.util.Arrays;

public class StringToCharArray {
  
    public static void main(String[] args) {
      
        // Defining a string
        String s = "Java";

        // Converting string to character array using streams
        char[] ch = s.chars()
                     .mapToObj(c -> (char) c)
                     .collect(StringBuilder::new, StringBuilder::append, StringBuilder::append)
                     .toString()
                     .toCharArray(); // Convert StringBuilder to char array

        System.out.println(Arrays.toString(ch)); 
    }
}

Output
[J, a, v, a]

Explanation:

  • s.chars(): This converts the string into an IntStream of character codes.
  • mapToObj(c -> (char) c): This maps each integer character code to a Character object.
  • collect(...): It collects the characters into a StringBuilder.
  • toString().toCharArray(): It converts the StringBuilder to a string, then to a char[] array.

Using String.split()

This is not an efficient way to convert string to character array. But we can split the string into individual characters using the split() method.

Example:

Java 
// Java Program to Convert String to Character Array 
// Using split()
import java.util.Arrays;

public class StringToCharArray {
  
    public static void main(String[] args) {
      
        // Defining a string
        String s = "Java";

        // Splitting the string into individual characters
        String[] ch = s.split("");

        System.out.println("" + Arrays.toString(ch));
    }
}

Output
[J, a, v, a]

When to Use Which Method

  • toCharArray(): For simplicity and efficient way.
  • Streams: For modern functional programming.
  • split(): Not an efficient way, do not prefer to use.



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