Chapter-8
String Handling
String: In Java a string is a sequence of characters. Java implements strings as objects
of class String. The class String is for working with data composed of multiple
characters. Implementing strings as built-in objects allows Java to provide many
features for string handling. Java has methods to perform various operations on strings
such as comparing, finding length, extracting characters etc.,
Creating Strings
I. From String Literal: A string can be created from a string literal—a series of
characters enclosed in double quotes.
Example: String s="Welcome";
II. Using new keyword: A string can also be created using object of type String.
Example: String s=new String ("Hello");
Methods in String class:
int length ( ) - Returns the total no. of characters present in the string object
including space.
Example:
String s="Java program";
int L=s.length(); //Output: 12
char charAt (int) - Returns the character at the corresponding index position. If the
index position is not found, then it raises a run-time error StringIndexOutOfBounds
Exception.
Example:
String s="Java program";
char c=s.charAt(2);
System.out.println (c); // Output: v
char c1=s.charAt(s.length());
System.out.println (c1); //Error-StringIndexOutOfBounds
char c2=s.charAt(s.length()-1);
System.out.println (c2); //Output: m
int indexOf (char/String) - Returns the first occurrence of the character or string
present in the string object. If the character/string is not found then it displays the
index position as -1 by default.
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Example:
String s="Java program";
int i1=s.indexOf('a');
System.out.println (i1);//Output: 1
int i2=s.indexOf('A');
System.out.println (i2);//Output: -1
int i3=s.indexOf("va");
System.out.println (i3); //Output: 2
int lastIndexOf (char/String) - Returns the last occurrence of the character or string
present in the string object.
Example:
String s="Java program";
int i1=s.lastIndexOf('a');
System.out.println (i1);//Output: 10
boolean startsWith (String) - Checks whether the calling string begins with the
specified string argument and returns true/false
Example:
String s="Java program";
boolean b=s.startsWith("J");
System.out.println (b); //Output: true
boolean b1=s.startsWith("Jav");
System.out.println (b1);//Output: true
boolean b3=s.startsWith("j");
System.out.println (b3); //Output: false
boolean endsWith (String) - Checks whether the calling string ends with the
specified string argument and returns true/false.
Example:
String s="Java program";
boolean b=s.endsWith("m");
System.out.println (b); //Output: true
boolean b1=s.endsWith("ram");
System.out.println (b1); //Output: true
boolean b2=s.endsWith("Ram");
System.out.println (b2);//Output: false
boolean equals (String) - Checks the equality between calling string and argument
string and returns true if they are exactly matching with the case of characters,
otherwise false.
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Example:
String s1="Java";
String s2="Java";
boolean b=s1.equals(s2);
System.out.println (b); //Output: true
Note: s1 is calling string, and s2 is argument string.
boolean equalsIgnoreCase (String) - Checks the equality between calling string and
argument string by ignoring the case of characters and returns true if they are having
same characters, otherwise false.
Example:
String s1="Java";
String s2="JAVA";
boolean b=s1.equalsIgnoreCase(s2);
System.out.println (b); //Output: true
String toUpperCase ( ) - Returns the string in uppercase by converting lowercase
characters to uppercase.
Example:
String s1="convert";
s1=s1.toUpperCase();
System.out.println (s1); //Output: CONVERT
String toLowerCase ( ) - Returns the string in Lowercase by converting uppercase
characters to lowercase.
Example:
String s1="CONVERT";
s1=s1.toLowerCase();
System.out.println (s1);//Output: convert
String trim ( ) - Returns the string after removing the space characters before and
after the end of the string. It does not remove space characters in between the string.
Example:
String s1=" Go to the class ";
s1=s1.trim();
System.out.println (s1); //Output: Go to the class
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String replace (char, char) - Returns the string after replacing all the occurrences of
existing character with new character/string.
Example:
String s1="babbage";
s1=s1.replace('b','*');
System.out.println (s1);//Output: *a**age
String replace (String, String) - Returns the string after replacing all the
occurrences of existing string with new character/string.
Example:
String s2="keyboard";
s2=s2.replace("key","Black");
System.out.println (s2); //Output: Blackboard
String concat (String) - Concatenates or joins the calling string with the string
present as the argument.
Example:
String s1="Sanjay ";
String s2="Kumar;
String s3=s1.concat(s2);
System.out.println (s3); //Sanjay Kumar
String substring (int) - Returns a part of the string from the specified index
positions.
Example:
String s1="Computer";
String s2=s1.substring(3);
System.out.println (s2); //Output: puter
String substring (int, int) - Returns the part of the string from the specified index
position till the specified ending index position.
Example:
String s1="Computer";
String s2=s1.substring(3, 7);
System.out.println (s2); //Output: pute
In the above substring method, the starting index value is subtracted from the ending index
value to find the number of characters to be extracted from the string.
In the above example the start index = 3 and the end index =7,
Therefore end index – start index = 7 – 3 = 4 [no. of characters to be extracted from 3rd index
position]. The output is pute.
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int compareTo (String) - Compares the calling string and argument string by finding
the difference in ASCII values of the characters. It returns +ve/-ve/0. If +ve then
calling string is greater than the argument string. If it is –ve, then calling string is
lesser than the argument string. If 0, then it indicates both the strings are same.
Example:
String s1="Laptop";
String s2="Desktop";
int c=s1.compareTo(s2);
System.out.println (c); //Output: 8
/*subtracts the ascii value of L and D and gives the output as positive value
indicating that Laptop is greater than the Desktop.*/
The difference in ASCII values are found till the compiler gets one
occurance of either +ve or –ve value.
int compareToIgnoreCase (String) - Compares the calling string and argument
string by finding the difference in ASCII values of the characters by ignoring the case
of characters. It returns +ve/-ve/0. If +ve then calling string is greater than the
argument string. If it is –ve, then calling string is lesser than the argument string. If
0, then it indicates both the strings are same.
Example:
String s1="Delhi";
String s2="DELHI";
int c=s1.compareToIgnoreCase(s2);
System.out.println (c); //Output: 0
String valueOf (number) – returns the number as String.
Example:
int a=12, b=13;
String s1=String.valueOf(a);
String s2=String.valueOf(b);
System.out.println(s1+s2);//Output: 1213
System.out.println((s1+s2).length());//Output: 4
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