String is a sequence of characters. In java, objects of String are immutable which means a constant and cannot be changed once created.
Creating a String
There are two ways to create string in Java:
String literal
String s = “PrutordotAi”;
Using new keyword
String s = new String (“PrutordotAi”);
Constructors
String(byte[] byte_arr) – Construct a new String by decoding the byte array. It uses the platform’s default character set for decoding.
Example:
byte[] b_arr = {71, 101, 101, 107, 115};
String s_byte =new String(b_arr); //Prutor
String(byte[] byte_arr, Charset char_set) – Construct a new String by decoding the byte array. It uses the char_set for decoding.
Example:
byte[] b_arr = {71, 101, 101, 107, 115};
Charset cs = Charset.defaultCharset();
String s_byte_char = new String(b_arr, cs); //Prutor
String(byte[] byte_arr, String char_set_name) – Construct a new String by decoding the byte array. It uses the char_set_name for decoding.
It looks similar to the above constructs and they appear before similar functions but it takes the String(which contains char_set_name) as parameter while the above constructor takes CharSet.
Example:
byte[] b_arr = {71, 101, 101, 107, 115};
String s = new String(b_arr, "US-ASCII"); //Prutor
String(byte[] byte_arr, int start_index, int length) – Construct a new string from the bytes array depending on the start_index(Starting location) and length(number of characters from starting location).
Example:
byte[] b_arr = {71, 101, 101, 107, 115};
String s = new String(b_arr, 1, 3); // eek
String(byte[] byte_arr, int start_index, int length, Charset char_set) – Construct a new string from the bytes array depending on the start_index(Starting location) and length(number of characters from starting location).Uses char_set for decoding.
Example:
byte[] b_arr = {71, 101, 101, 107, 115};
Charset cs = Charset.defaultCharset();
String s = new String(b_arr, 1, 3, cs); // eek
String(byte[] byte_arr, int start_index, int length, String char_set_name) – Construct a new string from the bytes array depending on the start_index(Starting location) and length(number of characters from starting location).Uses char_set_name for decoding.
Example:
byte[] b_arr = {71, 101, 101, 107, 115};
String s = new String(b_arr, 1, 4, "US-ASCII"); // eeks
String(char[] char_arr) – Allocates a new String from the given Character array
Example:
char char_arr[] = {'G', 'e', 'e', 'k', 's'};
String s = new String(char_arr); //Prutor
String(char[] char_array, int start_index, int count) – Allocates a String from a given character array but choose count characters from the start_index.
Example:
char char_arr[] = {'G', 'e', 'e', 'k', 's'};
String s = new String(char_arr , 1, 3); //eek
String(int[] uni_code_points, int offset, int count) – Allocates a String from a uni_code_array but choose count characters from the start_index.
Example:
int[] uni_code = {71, 101, 101, 107, 115};
String s = new String(uni_code, 1, 3); //eek
String(StringBuffer s_buffer) – Allocates a new string from the string in s_buffer
Example:
StringBuffer s_buffer = new StringBuffer("Prutor");
String s = new String(s_buffer); //Prutor
String(StringBuilder s_builder) – Allocates a new string from the string in s_builder
Example:
StringBuilder s_builder = new StringBuilder("Prutor");
String s = new String(s_builder); //Prutor
String Methods
int length(): Returns the number of characters in the String.
"PrutordotAi".length(); // returns 13
Char charAt(int i): Returns the character at ith index.
"PrutordotAi".charAt(3); // returns ‘k’
String substring (int i): Return the substring from the ith index character to end.
"PrutordotAi".substring(3); // returns “ksPrutor”
String substring (int i, int j): Returns the substring from i to j-1 index.
"PrutordotAi".substring(2, 5); // returns “eks”
String concat( String str): Concatenates specified string to the end of this string.
String s1 = ”Prutor”;
String s2 = ”Prutor”;
String output = s1.concat(s2); // returns “PrutordotAi”
int indexOf (String s): Returns the index within the string of the first occurrence of the specified string.
String s = ”Learn Share Learn”;
int output = s.indexOf(“Share”); // returns 6
int indexOf (String s, int i): Returns the index within the string of the first occurrence of the specified string, starting at the specified index.
String s = ”Learn Share Learn”;
int output = s.indexOf("ea",3);// returns 13
Int lastIndexOf( String s): Returns the index within the string of the last occurrence of the specified string.
String s = ”Learn Share Learn”;
int output = s.lastIndexOf("a"); // returns 14
boolean equals( Object otherObj): Compares this string to the specified object.
Boolean out = “Prutor”.equals(“Prutor”); // returns true
Boolean out = “Prutor”.equals(“prutor”); // returns false
boolean equalsIgnoreCase (String anotherString): Compares string to another string, ignoring case considerations.
Boolean out= “Prutor”.equalsIgnoreCase(“Prutor”); // returns true
Boolean out = “Prutor”.equalsIgnoreCase(“prutor”); // returns true
int compareTo( String anotherString): Compares two string lexicographically.
int out = s1.compareTo(s2); // where s1 ans s2 are
// strings to be compared
This returns difference s1-s2. If :
out < 0 // s1 comes before s2
out = 0 // s1 and s2 are equal.
out > 0 // s1 comes after s2.
int compareToIgnoreCase( String anotherString): Compares two string lexicographically, ignoring case considerations.
int out = s1.compareToIgnoreCase(s2);
// where s1 ans s2 are
// strings to be compared
This returns difference s1-s2. If :
out < 0 // s1 comes before s2
out = 0 // s1 and s2 are equal.
out > 0 // s1 comes after s2.
Note- In this case, it will not consider case of a letter (it will ignore whether it is uppercase or lowercase).
String toLowerCase(): Converts all the characters in the String to lower case.
String word1 = “HeLLo”;
String word3 = word1.toLowerCase(); // returns “hello"
String toUpperCase(): Converts all the characters in the String to upper case.
String word1 = “HeLLo”;
String word2 = word1.toUpperCase(); // returns “HELLO”
String trim(): Returns the copy of the String, by removing whitespaces at both ends. It does not affect whitespaces in the middle.
String word1 = “ Learn Share Learn “;
String word2 = word1.trim(); // returns “Learn Share Learn”
String replace (char oldChar, char newChar): Returns new string by replacing all occurrences of oldChar with newChar.
String s1 = “prutordotai“;
String s2 = “prutordotai”.replace(‘u’ ,’o’); // returns “protordotai”
Program to illustrate all string methods:
// Java code to illustrate different constructors and methods
// String class.
import java.io.*;
import java.util.*;
class Test
{
public static void main (String[] args)
{
String s= "PrutordotAi";
// or String s= new String ("PrutordotAi");
// Returns the number of characters in the String.
System.out.println("String length = " + s.length());
// Returns the character at ith index.
System.out.println("Character at 3rd position = "
+ s.charAt(3));
// Return the substring from the ith index character
// to end of string
System.out.println("Substring " + s.substring(3));
// Returns the substring from i to j-1 index.
System.out.println("Substring = " + s.substring(2,5));
// Concatenates string2 to the end of string1.
String s1 = "Prutor";
String s2 = "Prutor";
System.out.println("Concatenated string = " +
s1.concat(s2));
// Returns the index within the string
// of the first occurrence of the specified string.
String s4 = "Learn Share Learn";
System.out.println("Index of Share " +
s4.indexOf("Share"));
// Returns the index within the string of the
// first occurrence of the specified string,
// starting at the specified index.
System.out.println("Index of a = " +
s4.indexOf('a',3));
// Checking equality of Strings
Boolean out = "Prutor".equals("prutor");
System.out.println("Checking Equality " + out);
out = "Prutor".equals("Prutor");
System.out.println("Checking Equality " + out);
out = "Prutor".equalsIgnoreCase("gEeks ");
System.out.println("Checking Equality " + out);
//If ASCII difference is zero then the two strings are similar
int out1 = s1.compareTo(s2);
System.out.println("the difference between ASCII value is="+out1);
// Converting cases
String word1 = "GeeKyMe";
System.out.println("Changing to lower Case " +
word1.toLowerCase());
// Converting cases
String word2 = "PrutoryME";
System.out.println("Changing to UPPER Case " +
word2.toUpperCase());
// Trimming the word
String word4 = " Learn Share Learn ";
System.out.println("Trim the word " + word4.trim());
// Replacing characters
String str1 = "prutordotai";
System.out.println("Original String " + str1);
String str2 = "prutordotai".replace('u' ,'o') ;
System.out.println("Replaced f with g -> " + str2);
}
}