Programming in Java

String and StringBuilder classes

By
Arvind Kumar
Asst. Professor, LPU
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 Introduction
• A string is a sequence of characters.

• In many languages, strings are treated as an array of characters, but in

Java a string is an object.

• Every string we create is actually an object of type String.

• String constants are actually String objects.

• Example:
System.out.println("This is a String, too");

• Objects of type String are immutable i.e. once a String object is created,
its contents cannot be altered.
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 Introduction
• In java, four predefined classes are provided that either
represent strings or provide functionality to manipulate them.
Those classes are:
– String
– StringBuffer
– StringBuilder
– StringTokenizer

String, StringBuffer, and StringBuilder classes are

defined in java.lang package and all are final.

All three implements the CharSequence interface.

 Why String Handling?
String handling is required to perform following operations on
some string:
• compare two strings
• search for a substring
• concatenate two strings
• change the case of letters within a string
 String Class
String Constructor:

public String ()
public String (String strObj)
public String (char chars[])
public String (byte asciiChars [])
public String (char chars[ ], int startIndex, int numChars)
public String (byte asciiChars[ ], int startIndex, int
numChars)
 Examples

char [] a = {'c', 'o', 'n', 'g', 'r', 'a', 't', 's'};

byte [] b = {65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72};
String s1 = new String (a); System.out.println(s1);
String s2 = new String (a, 1,5);
System.out.println(s2);
String s3 = new String (s1); System.out.println(s3);
String s4 = new String (b); System.out.println(s4);
String s5 = new String (b, 4, 4);
System.out.println(s5);
congrats
ongra
congrats
ABCDEFGH
EFGH
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 Methods of String class
• String Length:
length() returns the length of the string i.e. number of
characters.

int length()

Example:
char chars[] = { 'a', 'b', 'c' };
String s = new String(chars);
System.out.println(s.length());
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 Character Extraction

• charAt(): used to obtain the character from the specified index

from a string.
public char charAt (int index);

Example:
char ch;
ch = "abc".charAt(1);
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 Methods Cont…
• getChars(): used to obtain set of characters from the string.

void getChars(int sourceStart, int sourceEnd, char target[ ], int

targetStart)

Example: String s = “KAMAL”;

char b[] = new char [10];
b[0] = ‘N’; b[1] = ‘E’;
b[2] = ‘E’; b[3] = ‘L’;
s.getChars(0, 4, b, 4);
System.out.println(b);

Output: NEELKAMA
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 Methods Cont…
• toCharArray(): returns a character array initialized by the
contents of the string.
char [] toCharArray();

Example: String s = “INDIA”;

char c[] = s.toCharArray();
for (int i=0; i<c.length; i++)
{
if (c[i]>= 65 && c[i]<=90)
c[i] += 32;

}
System.out.println(c);
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 String Comparison
• equals(): used to compare two strings for equality.
Comparison is case-sensitive.

public boolean equals (Object str)

• equalsIgnoreCase( ): To perform a comparison that ignores case

differences.

Note:
• This method is defined in Object class and overridden in String class.

• equals(), in Object class, compares the value of reference not the content.

• In String class, equals method is overridden for content-wise comparison of two

strings.
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 Example
class equalsDemo {
public static void main(String args[]) {
String s1 = "Hello";
String s2 = "Hello";
String s3 = "Good-bye";
String s4 = "HELLO";
System.out.println(s1 + " equals " + s2 + " -> " +
s1.equals(s2));
System.out.println(s1 + " equals " + s3 + " -> " +
s1.equals(s3));
System.out.println(s1 + " equals " + s4 + " -> " +
s1.equals(s4));
System.out.println(s1 + " equalsIgnoreCase " + s4 + " -> “
+s1.equalsIgnoreCase(s4));
}
}
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 String Comparison
• startsWith( ) and endsWith( ):

– The startsWith( ) method determines whether a given String

begins with a specified string.

– Conversely, endsWith( ) determines whether the String in

question ends with a specified string.

boolean startsWith(String str)

boolean endsWith(String str)
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 String Comparison
compareTo( ):

• A string is less than another if it comes before the other in

dictionary order.
• A string is greater than another if it comes after the other in
dictionary order.
int compareTo(String str)
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 Example
class SortString {
static String arr[] = {"Now", "is", "the", "time", "for", "all", "good", "men",
"to", "come", "to", "the", "aid", "of", "their", "country"};
public static void main(String args[]) {
for(int j = 0; j < arr.length; j++) {
for(int i = j + 1; i < arr.length; i++) {
if(arr[j].compareTo(arr[i]) > 0) {
String t = arr[j];
arr[j] = arr[i];
arr[i] = t;
}
}
System.out.println(arr[j]);
}
}
}
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 String Comparison
boolean regionMatches(int toffset, String other, int ooffset, int len)
• Tests if two string regions are equal

boolean regionMatches(boolean ignoreCase, int toffset, String

other, int ooffset, int len) :
• Tests if two string regions are equal, with case considerations
Example:
System.out.println("Hello".regionMatches(false,0,"hello",0,3));
System.out.println("Hello".regionMatches(true,0,"hello",0,3));
Output
false
true
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 Searching Strings
• The String class provides two methods that allow us to search a string for a
specified character or substring:

indexOf( ): Searches for the first occurrence of a character or substring.

int indexOf(int ch)

lastIndexOf( ): Searches for the last occurrence of a character or

substring.
int lastIndexOf(int ch)

• To search for the first or last occurrence of a substring, use

int indexOf(String str)
int lastIndexOf(String str)
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• We can specify a starting point for the search using these forms:

int indexOf(int ch, int startIndex)

int lastIndexOf(int ch, int startIndex)
int indexOf(String str, int startIndex)
int lastIndexOf(String str, int startIndex)

• Here, startIndex specifies the index at which point the search begins.

• For indexOf( ), the search runs from startIndex to the end of the
string.

• For lastIndexOf( ), the search runs from startIndex to zero.

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 Example
class indexOfDemo {
public static void main(String args[]) {
String s = "Now is the time for all good men " +
"to come to the aid of their country.";
System.out.println(s);
System.out.println("indexOf(t) = " + s.indexOf('t'));
System.out.println("lastIndexOf(t) = " + s.lastIndexOf('t'));
System.out.println("indexOf(the) = " + s.indexOf("the"));
System.out.println("lastIndexOf(the) = " + s.lastIndexOf("the"));
System.out.println("indexOf(t, 10) = " + s.indexOf('t', 10));
System.out.println("lastIndexOf(t, 60) = " + s.lastIndexOf('t', 60));
System.out.println("indexOf(the, 10) = " + s.indexOf("the", 10));
System.out.println("lastIndexOf(the, 60) = " + s.lastIndexOf("the", 60));
}
}
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• Converting Characters and Numeric Values to Strings

• The static valueOf method can be used to convert an array of

characters into a string.
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 Modifying a String
• Because String objects are immutable, whenever we want to modify a
String, we must either copy it into a StringBuffer or StringBuilder, or use
one of the following String methods, which will construct a new copy of
the string with modifications.

• substring(): used to extract a part of a string.

public String substring (int start_index)
public String substring (int start_index, int end_index)
Example: String s = “ABCDEFG”;
String t = s.substring(2); System.out.println (t);
String u = s.substring (1, 4); System.out.println (u);
CDEFG
BCD
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 concat( ): used to concatenate two strings.
String concat(String str)

• This method creates a new object that contains the invoking string
with the contents of str appended to the end.

• concat( ) performs the same function as +.

Example:
String s1 = "one"; String s2 = s1.concat("two");

• It generates the same result as the following sequence:

String s1 = "one"; String s2 = s1 + "two";
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replace( ): The replace( ) method has two forms.
• The first replaces all occurrences of one character in the invoking string with
another character. It has the following general form:

String replace(char original, char replacement)

• Here, original specifies the character to be replaced by the character

specified by replacement.

Example: String s = "Hello".replace('l', 'w');

• The second form of replace( ) replaces one character sequence with another.
It has this general form:

String replace(CharSequence original, CharSequence replacement)

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trim( )
• The trim( ) method returns a copy of the invoking string from which
any leading and trailing whitespace has been removed.
String trim( )
Example:
String s = " Hello World ".trim();
This puts the string “Hello World” into s.
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Changing the Case of Characters Within a String

toLowerCase() & toUpperCase()

• Both methods return a String object that contains the

uppercase or lowercase equivalent of the invoking String.

String toLowerCase( )
String toUpperCase( )
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 Java String join
• The java string join() method returns a string joined with given
delimiter.

• In string join method, delimiter is copied for each elements.

• In case of null element, "null" is added.

• The join() method is included in java string since JDK 1.8.

public static String join(CharSequence delimiter,

CharSequence... elements)
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 Java String join
class StringJoinDemo
{ public static void main(String args[])
{ String result = String.join(" ", "Alpha", "Beta", "Gamma");
System.out.println(result);
result = String.join(", ", "John", "ID#: 569","E-mail:
[email protected]");
System.out.println(result);
}}

The output is:

Alpha Beta Gamma
John, ID#: 569, E-mail: [email protected]
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 Java String intern
• The java string intern() method returns the interned string.

• It returns the canonical representation of string.

• It can be used to return string from pool memory, if it is

created by new keyword.

public String intern()

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 Java String intern
public class InternExample
{ public static void main(String args[])
{String s1=new String("hello");
String s2="hello";
String s3=s1.intern();
System.out.println(s1==s2);
System.out.println(s2==s3);
}}
• Output:
false
true
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 StringBuilder
• A mutable sequence of characters.

• StringBuilder is non-synchronized.

• The principal operations on a StringBuilder are the append and

insert methods, which are overloaded so as to accept data of
any type. Each effectively converts a given datum to a string
and then appends or inserts the characters of that string to the
string builder.

• The append method always adds these characters at the end of

the builder; the insert method adds the characters at a specified
point.
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 Constructors
• StringBuilder()
Constructs a string builder with no characters in it and an
initial capacity of 16 characters.

• StringBuilder(CharSequence seq)
• StringBuilder(int capacity)
• StringBuilder(String str)
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 Important
• When the length of StringBuilder becomes larger than the
capacity then memory reallocation is done:

• In case of StringBuilder, reallocation of memory is done using

the following rule:

• If the new_length <= 2*(original_capacity + 1), then

new_capacity = 2*(original_capacity + 1)

• Else, new_capacity = new_length.

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 Methods
• public StringBuilder append(String s)
The append() method is overloaded like append(char),
append(boolean), append(int), append(float), append(double)
etc.

• public StringBuilder insert(int offset, String s)

• public StringBuilder replace(int startIndex, int endIndex, String
str)
• public StringBuilder delete(int startIndex, int endIndex)
• public StringBuilder reverse()
• public int capacity()
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 Methods
• public void ensureCapacity(int minimumCapacity)

• public char charAt(int index)

• public int length()

• public String substring(int beginIndex)

• public String substring(int beginIndex, int endIndex)

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 Let’s Do It
• Write an application that counts the total number of spaces
contained in a String entered by the user.
• Save the file as CountSpaces2.java.
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 Let’s Do It

• Write an application that allows a user to enter two Strings.

Output the number of characters in the first String that also
appear in the second String , and output those characters.

• Example
• String S1 = “ABCDFGB”
• String S2 = “BCJDYZBC”

• Count = 3
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 Let’s Do It

• Write an application that accepts a user’s password from the

keyboard. When the entered password has fewer than six
characters, more than 10 characters, or does not contain at
least one letter and one digit, prompt the user again. When the
user’ s entry meets all the password requirements, prompt the
user to reenter the password, and do not let the user continue
until the second password matches the first one. Save the file
as Password.java
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 Let’s Do It

• Write an application that prompts the user for three first names
and concatenates them in every possible two-name
combination so that new parents can easily compare them to
find the most pleasing baby name.
• Save the file as BabyNameComparison.java.
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 Let’s Do It

• Write a program to check two strings are ANAGRAM or not.

Strings will be anagram if they have same set of characters
and same length.

• Eg.

silent
listen
Let’s Do It