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Introduction To Java String Handling

This document provides an introduction to string handling in Java. It discusses that a string is an object that represents a sequence of characters located in the java.lang package. Strings are immutable objects. The Java String class implements interfaces like Serializable, Comparable, and CharSequence. Strings can be created using string literals, the new keyword, or concatenation methods like concat() and the + operator. Strings can be compared using the equals() method, == operator, or compareTo() method to compare values alphabetically.

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Archana R gopinath
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© © All Rights Reserved
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93 views

Introduction To Java String Handling

This document provides an introduction to string handling in Java. It discusses that a string is an object that represents a sequence of characters located in the java.lang package. Strings are immutable objects. The Java String class implements interfaces like Serializable, Comparable, and CharSequence. Strings can be created using string literals, the new keyword, or concatenation methods like concat() and the + operator. Strings can be compared using the equals() method, == operator, or compareTo() method to compare values alphabetically.

Uploaded by

Archana R gopinath
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Introduction to Java String Handling

String is an object that represents sequence of characters. In Java, String is represented


by String class which is located into java.lang package
It is probably the most commonly used class in java library. In java, every string that we
create is actually an object of type String. One important thing to notice about string object
is that string objects are immutable that means once a string object is created it cannot be
changed.
The Java String class implements Serializable, Comparable and CharSequence interface
that we have represented using the below image.

In Java, CharSequence Interface is used for representing a sequence of characters.


CharSequence interface is implemented by String, StringBuffer and StringBuilder classes.
This three classes can be used for creating strings in java.
What is an Immutable object?
An object whose state cannot be changed after it is created is known as an Immutable
object. String, Integer, Byte, Short, Float, Double and all other wrapper classes objects are
immutable.

Creating a String object


String can be created in number of ways, here are a few ways of creating string object.

1) Using a String literal


String literal is a simple string enclosed in double quotes " ". A string literal is treated as a
String object.
public class Demo{

public static void main(String[] args) {

String s1 = "Hello Java";

System.out.println(s1);

Hello Java

2) Using new Keyword


We can create a new string object by using new operator that allocates memory for the
object.
public class Demo{

public static void main(String[] args) {

String s1 = new String("Hello Java");

System.out.println(s1);

Hello Java

Each time we create a String literal, the JVM checks the string pool first. If the string literal
already exists in the pool, a reference to the pool instance is returned. If string does not
exist in the pool, a new string object is created, and is placed in the pool. String objects are
stored in a special memory area known as string constant pool inside the heap memory.

String object and How they are stored


When we create a new string object using string literal, that string literal is added to the
string pool, if it is not present there already.
String str= "Hello";

And, when we create another object with same string, then a reference of the string literal
already present in string pool is returned.
String str2 = str;
But if we change the new string, its reference gets modified.
str2=str2.concat("world");

Concatenating String
There are 2 methods to concatenate two or more string.

1. Using concat() method


2. Using + operator

1) Using concat() method


Concat() method is used to add two or more string into a single string object. It is string
class method and returns a string object.
public class Demo{
public static void main(String[] args) {

String s = "Hello";

String str = "Java";

String str1 = s.concat(str);

System.out.println(str1);

HelloJava

2) Using + operator
Java uses "+" operator to concatenate two string objects into single one. It can also
concatenate numeric value with string object. See the below example.
public class Demo{

public static void main(String[] args) {

String s = "Hello";

String str = "Java";

String str1 = s+str;

String str2 = "Java"+11;

System.out.println(str1);

System.out.println(str2);

HelloJava

Java11

String Comparison
To compare string objects, Java provides methods and operators both. So we can
compare string in following three ways.

1. Using equals() method


2. Using == operator
3. By CompareTo() method

Using equals() method


equals() method compares two strings for equality. Its general syntax is,

boolean equals (Object str)

Example
It compares the content of the strings. It will return true if string matches, else
returns false.
public class Demo{

public static void main(String[] args) {

String s = "Hell";

String s1 = "Hello";

String s2 = "Hello";

boolean b = s1.equals(s2); //true

System.out.println(b);

b = s.equals(s1) ; //false

System.out.println(b);

true

false

Using == operator
The double equal (==) operator compares two object references to check whether they
refer to same instance. This also, will return true on successful match else returns false.
public class Demo{

public static void main(String[] args) {

String s1 = "Java";

String s2 = "Java";

String s3 = new String ("Java");


boolean b = (s1 == s2); //true

System.out.println(b);

b = (s1 == s3); //false

System.out.println(b);

true

false

Explanation
We are creating a new object using new operator, and thus it gets created in a non-pool
memory area of the heap. s1 is pointing to the String in string pool while s3 is pointing to
the String in heap and hence, when we compare s1 and s3, the answer is false.
The following image will explain it more clearly.

By compareTo() method
String compareTo() method compares values and returns an integer value which tells if
the string compared is less than, equal to or greater than the other string. It compares the
String based on natural ordering i.e alphabetically. Its general syntax is.

Syntax:
int compareTo(String str)

Example:
public class HelloWorld{

public static void main(String[] args) {

String s1 = "Abhi";

String s2 = "Viraaj";

String s3 = "Abhi";

int a = s1.compareTo(s2); //return -21 because s1 < s2

System.out.println(a);

a = s1.compareTo(s3); //return 0 because s1 == s3

System.out.println(a);

a = s2.compareTo(s1); //return 21 because s2 > s1

System.out.println(a);

-21

21
THANK YOU

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