Module java.base
Package java.lang

Class String

java.lang.Object
java.lang.String
All Implemented Interfaces:
Serializable, CharSequence, Comparable<String>, Constable, ConstantDesc
public final class String extends Object implements Serializable, Comparable<String>, CharSequence, Constable, ConstantDesc
The String class represents character strings. All string literals in Java programs, such as "abc", are implemented as instances of this class.

Strings are constant; their values cannot be changed after they are created. String buffers support mutable strings. Because String objects are immutable they can be shared. For example: 

     String str = "abc";

is equivalent to: 

     char data[] = {'a', 'b', 'c'};
     String str = new String(data);

Here are some more examples of how strings can be used: 

     System.out.println("abc");
     String cde = "cde";
     System.out.println("abc" + cde);
     String c = "abc".substring(2, 3);
     String d = cde.substring(1, 2);

The class String includes methods for examining individual characters of the sequence, for comparing strings, for searching strings, for extracting substrings, and for creating a copy of a string with all characters translated to uppercase or to lowercase. Case mapping is based on the Unicode Standard version specified by the Character class.

The Java language provides special support for the string concatenation operator ( + ), and for conversion of other objects to strings. For additional information on string concatenation and conversion, see The Java Language Specification.

Unless otherwise noted, passing a null argument to a constructor or method in this class will cause a NullPointerException to be thrown.

A String represents a string in the UTF-16 format in which supplementary characters are represented by surrogate pairs (see the section Unicode Character Representations in the Character class for more information). Index values refer to char code units, so a supplementary character uses two positions in a String.

The String class provides methods for dealing with Unicode code points (i.e., characters), in addition to those for dealing with Unicode code units (i.e., char values).

Unless otherwise noted, methods for comparing Strings do not take locale into account. The Collator class provides methods for finer-grain, locale-sensitive String comparison.

Implementation Note:
The implementation of the string concatenation operator is left to the discretion of a Java compiler, as long as the compiler ultimately conforms to The Java Language Specification. For example, the javac compiler may implement the operator with StringBuffer, StringBuilder, or java.lang.invoke.StringConcatFactory depending on the JDK version. The implementation of string conversion is typically through the method toString, defined by Object and inherited by all classes in Java.
See Java Language Specification:
15.18.1 String Concatenation Operator +
Since:
1.0
See Also: