[Chapter 12] String

#

| Chapter 12 The java.lang Package |

# String

## Name

String

## Synopsis

Class Name:

  `java.lang.String`

Superclass:

  `java.lang.Object`

Immediate Subclasses:

  None

Interfaces Implemented:

  `java.io.Serializable`

Availability:

  JDK 1.0 or later

## Description

The `String` class represents sequences of characters. Once a `String` object is created, it is immutable. In other words, the sequence of characters that a `String` represents cannot be changed after it is created. The `StringBuffer` class, on the other hand, represents a sequence of characters that can be changed. `StringBuffer` objects are used to perform computations on `String` objects.

The `String` class includes a number of utility methods, such as methods for fetching individual characters or ranges of contiguous characters, for translating characters to upper- or lowercase, for searching strings, and for parsing numeric values in strings.

`String` literals are compiled into `String` objects. Where a `String` literal appears in an expression, the compiled code contains a `String` object. If `s` is declared as `String`, the following two expressions are identical:

    s.equals("ABC")
    "ABC".equals(s)

The string concatenation operator implicitly creates `String` objects.

## Class Summary

    public final class java.lang.String extends java.lang.Object {
        // Constructors
        public String();
        public String(byte[] bytes);                          // New in 1.1
        public String(byte[] bytes, String enc);              // New in 1.1
        public String(byte[] bytes, int offset, int length);  // New in 1.1
        public String(byte[] bytes, int offset,
                      int length, String enc);                // New in 1.1
        public String(byte[] lowbytes, int hibyte);        // Deprecated in 1.1
        public String(byte[] lowbytes, int hibyte,
                      int offset, int count);              // Deprecated in 1.1
        public String(char[] value);
        public String(char[] value, int offset, int;
        public String(String value);
        public String(StringBuffer buffer);
        // Class Methods
        public static String copyValueOf(char data[]);
        public static String copyValueOf(char data[], int offset, int count);
        public static String valueOf(boolean b);
        public static String valueOf(char c);
        public static String valueOf(char[] data);
        public static String valueOf(char[] data, int offset, int count);
        public static String valueOf(double d);
        public static String valueOf(float f);
        public static String valueOf(int i);
        public static String valueOf(long l);
        public static String valueOf(Object obj);
        // Instance Methods
        public char charAt(int index);
        public int compareTo(String anotherString);
        public String concat(String str);
        public boolean endsWith(String suffix);
        public boolean equals(Object anObject);
        public boolean equalsIgnoreCase(String anotherString);
        public byte[] getBytes();                             // New in 1.1
        public byte[] getBytes(String enc);                   // New in 1.1
        public void getBytes(int srcBegin, int srcEnd,
                             byte[] dst, int dstBegin);     // Deprecated in 1.1
        public void getChars(int srcBegin, int srcEnd, char[] dst, int dstBegin);
        public int hashCode();
        public int indexOf(int ch);
        public int indexOf(int ch, int fromIndex);
        public int indexOf(String str);
        public int indexOf(String str, int fromIndex);
        public native String intern();
        public int lastIndexOf(int ch);
        public int lastIndexOf(int ch, int fromIndex);
        public int lastIndexOf(String str);
        public int lastIndexOf(String str, int fromIndex;
        public int length();
        public boolean regionMatches(boolean ignoreCase, int toffset,
                                     String other, int ooffset, int len);
        public boolean regionMatches(int toffset, String other,
                                     int ooffset, int len);
        public String replace(char oldChar, char newChar);
        public boolean startsWith(String prefix);
        public boolean startsWith(String prefix, int toffset);
        public String substring(int beginIndex);
        public String substring(int beginIndex, int endIndex);
        public char[] toCharArray();
        public String toLowerCase();
        public String toLowerCase(Locale locale);             // New in 1.1
        public String toString();
        public String toUpperCase();
        public String toUpperCase(Locale locale);             // New in 1.1
        public String trim();
    }

## Constructors

### String

#### `public String()`

Description

  Creates a new `String` object that represents the empty string (i.e., a string with zero characters).

#### `public String(byte[] bytes)`

Availability

  New as of JDK 1.1

Parameters

  `bytes`

    An array of `byte` values.

Description

  Creates a new `String` object that represents the sequence of characters stored in the given `bytes` array. The bytes in the array are converted to characters using the system's default character encoding scheme.

#### `public String(byte[] bytes, String enc)`

Availability

  New as of JDK 1.1

Parameters

  `bytes`

    An array of `byte` values.

  `enc`

    The name of an encoding scheme.

Throws

  `UnsupportedEncodingException`

    If `enc` is not a supported encoding scheme.

Description

  Creates a new `String` object that represents the sequence of characters stored in the given `bytes` array. The bytes in the array are converted to characters using the specified character encoding scheme.

#### `public String(byte[] bytes, int offset, int length)`

Availability

  New as of JDK 1.1

Parameters

  `bytes`

    An array of `byte` values.

  `offset`

    An offset into the array.

  `length`

    The number of bytes to be included.

Throws

  `StringIndexOutOfBoundsException`

    If `offset` or `length` indexes an element that is outside the bounds of the `bytes` array.

Description

  Creates a new `String` object that represents the sequence of characters stored in the specified portion of the given `bytes` array. The bytes in the array are converted to characters using the system's default character encoding scheme.

####

     public String(byte[] bytes, int offset, int length, String enc)

Availability

  New as of JDK 1.1

Parameters

  `bytes`

    An array of `byte` values.

  `offset`

    An offset into the array.

  `length`

    The number of bytes to be included.

  `enc`

    The name of an encoding scheme.

Throws

  `StringIndexOutOfBoundsException`

    If `offset` or `length` indexes an element that is outside the bounds of the `bytes` array.

  `UnsupportedEncodingException`

    If `enc` is not a supported encoding scheme.

Description

  Creates a new `String` object that represents the sequence of characters stored in the specified portion of the given `bytes` array. The bytes in the array are converted to characters using the specified character encoding scheme.

#### `public String(byte[] lowbytes, int hibyte)`

Availability

  Deprecated as of JDK 1.1

Parameters

  `lowbytes`

    An array of `byte` values.

  `hibyte`

    The value to be put in the high-order byte of each 16-bit character.

Description

  Creates a new `String` object that represents the sequence of characters stored in the given `lowbytes` array. The type of the array elements is `byte`, which is an 8-bit data type, so each element must be converted to a `char`, which is a 16-bit data type. The value of the `hibyte` argument is used to provide the value of the high-order byte when the `byte` values in the array are converted to `char` values.

  More specifically, for each element `i` in the array `lowbytes`, the character at position `i` in the created `String` object is:

      ((hibyte & 0xff)<<8) | lowbytes[i]

  This method is deprecated as of JDK 1.1 because it does not convert bytes into characters properly. You should instead use one of the constructors that takes a specific character encoding argument or that uses the default encoding.

####

     public String(byte[] lowbytes, int hibyte, int offset, int count)

Availability

  Deprecated as of JDK 1.1

Parameters

  `lowbytes`

    An array of `byte` values.

  `hibyte`

    The value to be put in the high-order byte of each 16-bit character.

  `offset`

    An offset into the array.

  `count`

    The number of bytes from the array to be included in the string.

Throws

  `StringIndexOutOfBoundsException`

    If `offset` or `count` indexes an element that is outside the bounds of the `lowbytes` array.

Description

  Creates a new `String` object that represents the sequence of characters stored in the specified portion of the `lowbytes` array. That is, the portion of the array that starts at `offset` elements from the beginning of the array and is `count` elements long.

  The type of the array elements is `byte`, which is an 8-bit data type, so each element must be converted to a `char`, which is a 16-bit data type. The value of the `hibyte` argument is used to provide the value of the high-order byte when the `byte` values in the array are converted to `char` values.

  More specifically, for each element `i` in the array `lowbytes` that is included in the `String` object, the character at position `i` in the created `String` is:

       ((hibyte & 0xff)<<8) | lowbytes[I]

  This method is deprecated as of JDK 1.1 because it does not convert bytes into characters properly. You should instead use one of the constructors that takes a specific character encoding argument or that uses the default encoding.

#### `public String(char[] value)`

Parameters

  `value`

    An array of `char` values.

Description

  Creates a new `String` object that represents the sequence of characters stored in the given array.

#### `public String(char[] value, int offset, int count)`

Parameters

  `value`

    An array of `char` values.

  `offset`

    An offset into the array.

  `count`

    The number of characters from the array to be included in the string.

Throws

  `StringIndexOutOfBoundsException`

    If `offset` or `count` indexes an element that is outside the bounds of the `value` array.

Description

  Creates a new `String` object that represents the sequence of characters stored in the specified portion of the given array. That is, the portion of the given array that starts at `offset` elements from the beginning of the array and is `count` elements long.

#### `public String(String value)`

Parameters

  `value`

    A `String` object.

Description

  Creates a new `String` object that represents the same sequence of characters as the given `String` object.

#### `public String(StringBuffer value)`

Parameters

  `value`

    A `StringBuffer` object.

Description

  Creates a new `String` object that represents the same sequence of characters as the given object.

## Class Methods

### copyValueOf

#### `public static String copyValueOf(char data[])`

Parameters

  `data`

    An array of `char` values.

Returns

  A new `String` object that represents the sequence of characters stored in the given array.

Description

  This method returns a new `String` object that represents the character sequence contained in the given array. The `String` object produced by this method is guaranteed not to refer to the given array, but instead to use a copy. Because the `String` object uses a copy of the array, subsequent changes to the array do not change the contents of this `String` object.

  This method is now obsolete. The same result can be obtained using the `valueOf()` method that takes an array of `char` values.

####

     public static String copyValueOf(char data[], int offset, int count)

Parameters

  `data`

    An array of `char` values.

  `offset`

    An offset into the array.

  `count`

    The number of characters from the array to be included in the string.

Returns

  A new `String` object that represents the sequence of characters stored in the specified portion of the given array.

Throws

  `StringIndexOutOfBoundsException`

    If `offset` or `count` indexes an element that is outside the bounds of the `data` array.

Description

  This method returns a new `String` object that represents the character sequence contained in the specified portion of the given array. That is, the portion of the given array that starts at `offset` elements from the beginning of the array and is `count` elements long. The `String` object produced by this method is guaranteed not to refer to the given array, but instead to use a copy. Because the `String` object uses a copy of the array, subsequent changes to the array do not change the contents of this `String` object.

  This method is obsolete. The same result can be obtained by using the `valueOf()` method that takes an array of `char` values, an offset, and a count.

### valueOf

#### `public static String valueOf(boolean b)`

Parameters

  `b`

    A `boolean` value.

Returns

  A new `String` object that contains `'true'` if `b` is `true` or `'false'` if `b` is `false`.

Description

  This method returns a string representation of a `boolean` value. In other words, it returns `'true'` if `b` is `true` or `'false'` if `b` is `false`.

#### `public static String valueOf(char c)`

Parameters

  `c`

    A `char` value.

Returns

  A new `String` object that contains just the given character.

Description

  This method returns a string representation of a `char` value. In other words, it returns a `String` object that contains just the given character.

#### `public static String valueOf(char[] data)`

Parameters

  `data`

    An array of `char` values.

Returns

  A new `String` object that contains the sequence of characters stored in the given array.

Description

  This method returns a string representation of an array of `char` values. In other words, it returns a `String` object that contains the sequence of characters stored in the given array.

####

     public static String valueOf(char[] data, int offset, int count)

Parameters

  `data`

    An array of `char` values.

  `offset`

    An offset into the array.

  `count`

    The number of characters from the array to be included in the string.

Returns

  A new `String` object that contains the sequence of characters stored in the specified portion of the given array.

Throws

  `StringIndexOutOfBoundsException`

    If `offset` or `count` indexes an element that is outside the bounds of the `data` array.

Description

  This method returns a string representation of the specified portion of an array of char values. In other words, it returns a `String` object that contains the sequence of characters in the given array that starts `offset` elements from the beginning of the array and is `count` elements long.

#### `public static String valueOf(double d)`

Parameters

  `d`

    A `double` value.

Returns

  A new `String` object that contains a string representation of the given `double` value.

Description

  This method returns a string representation of a `double` value. In other words, it returns the `String` object returned by `Double.toString(d)`.

#### `public static String valueOf(float f)`

Parameters

  `f`

    A `float` value.

Returns

  A new `String` object that contains a string representation of the given `float` value.

Description

  This method returns a string representation of a `float` value. In other words, it returns the `String` object returned by `Float.toString(f)`.

#### `public static String valueOf(int i)`

Parameters

  `i`

    An `int` value.

Returns

  A new `String` object that contains a string representation of the given `int` value.

Description

  This method returns a string representation of an `int` value. In other words, it returns the `String` object returned by `Integer.toString(i)`.

#### `public static String valueOf(long l)`

Parameters

  `l`

    A `long` value.

Returns

  A new `String` object that contains a string representation of the given `long` value.

Description

  This method returns a string representation of a `long` value. In other words, it returns the `String` object returned by `Long.toString(l)`.

#### `public static String valueOf (Object obj)`

Parameters

  `obj`

    A reference to an object.

Returns

  A new `String` that contains a string representation of the given object.

Description

  This method returns a string representation of the given object. If `obj` is `null`, the method returns`'null'`. Otherwise, the method returns the `String` object returned by the `toString()` method of the object.

## Instance Methods

### charAt

#### `public char charAt(int index)`

Parameters

  `index`

    An index into the string.

Returns

  The character at the specified position in this string.

Throws

  `StringIndexOutOfBoundsException`

    If `index` is less than zero or greater than or equal to the length of the string.

Description

  This method returns the character at the specified position in the `String` object; the first character in the string is at position `0`.

### compareTo

#### `public int compareTo(String anotherString)`

Parameters

  `anotherString`

    The `String` object to be compared.

Returns

  A positive value if this string is greater than `anotherString`, `0` if the two strings are the same, or a negative value if this string is less than `anotherString`.

Description

  This method lexicographically compares this `String` object to `anotherString`.

  Here is how the comparison works: the two `String` objects are compared character-by-character, starting at index `0` and continuing until a position is found in which the two strings contain different characters or until all of the characters in the shorter string have been compared. If the characters at `k` are different, the method returns:

      this.charAt(k)-anotherString.charAt(k)

  Otherwise, the comparison is based on the lengths of the strings and the method returns:

      this.length()-anotherString.length()

### concat

#### `public String concat(String str)`

Parameters

  `str`

    The `String` object to be concatenated.

Returns

  A new `String` object that contains the character sequences of this string and `str` concatenated together.

Description

  This method returns a new `String` object that concatenates the characters from the argument string `str` onto the characters from this `String` object. Although this is a good way to concatenate two strings, concatenating more than two strings can be done more efficiently using a `StringBuffer` object.

### endsWith

#### `public boolean endsWith(String suffix)`

Parameters

  `suffix`

    The `String` object suffix to be tested.

Returns

  `true` if this string ends with the sequence of characters specified by `suffix`; otherwise `false`.

Description

  This method determines whether or not this `String` object ends with the specified `suffix`.

### equals

#### `public boolean equals(Object anObject)`

Parameters

  `anObject`

    The `Object` to be compared.

Returns

  `true` if the objects are equal; `false` if they are not.

Overrides

  `Object.equals()`

Description

  This method returns `true` if `anObject` is an instance of `String` and it contains the same sequence of characters as this `String` object.

  Note the difference between this method and the `==` operator, which only returns `true` if both of its arguments are references to the same object.

### equalsIgnoreCase

#### `public boolean equalsIgnoreCase(String anotherString)`

Parameters

  `anotherString`

    The `String` object to be compared.

Returns

  `true` if the strings are equal, ignoring case; otherwise `false`.

Description

  This method determines whether or not this `String` object contains the same sequence of characters, ignoring case, as `anotherString`. More specifically, corresponding characters in the two strings are considered equal if any of the following conditions are true:

  - The two characters compare as equal using the `==` operator.

  - The `Character.toUppercase()` method returns the same result for both characters.

  - The `Character.toLowercase()` method returns the same result for both characters.

### getBytes

####

     public byte[] getBytes()

Availability

  New as of JDK 1.1

Returns

  A `byte` array that contains the characters of this `String`.

Description

  This method converts the characters in this `String` object to an array of `byte` values. The characters in the string are converted to bytes using the system's default character encoding scheme.

####

     public byte[] getBytes(String enc)

Availability

  New as of JDK 1.1

Parameters

  `enc`

    The name of an encoding scheme.

Returns

  A `byte` array that contains the characters of this `String`.

Throws

  `UnsupportedEncodingException`

    If `enc` is not a supported encoding scheme.

Description

  This method converts the characters in this `String` object to an array of `byte` values. The characters in the string are converted to bytes using the specified character encoding scheme.

####

     public void getBytes(int srcBegin, int srcEnd, byte[] dst, int dstBegin)

Availability

  Deprecated as of JDK 1.1

Parameters

  `srcBegin`

    The index of the first character to be copied.

  `srcEnd`

    The index after the last character to be copied.

  `dst`

    The destination `byte` array.

  `dstBegin`

    An offset into the destination array.

Throws

  `StringIndexOutOfBoundsException`

    If `srcBegin`, `srcEnd`, or `dstBegin` is out of range.

Description

  This method copies the low-order byte of each character in the specified range of this `String` object to the given array of `byte` values. More specifically, the first character to be copied is at index `srcBegin`; the last character to be copied is at index `srcEnd-1`. The low-order bytes of these characters are copied into `dst`, starting at index `dstBegin` and ending at index:

      dstBegin + (srcEnd-srcBegin) - 1

  This method is deprecated as of JDK 1.1 because it does not convert characters into bytes properly. You should instead use the `getBytes()` method that takes a specific character encoding argument or the one that uses the default encoding.

### getChars

####

     public void getChars(int srcBegin, int srcEnd, char[] dst, int dstBegin)

Parameters

  `srcBegin`

    The index of the first character to be copied.

  `srcEnd`

    The index after the last character to be copied.

  `dst`

    The destination `char` array.

  `dstBegin`

    An offset into the destination array.

Throws

  `StringIndexOutOfBoundsException`

    If `srcBegin`, `srcEnd`, or `dstBegin` is out of range.

Description

  This method copies each character in the specified range of this `String` object to the given array of `char` values. More specifically, the first character to be copied is at index `srcBegin`; the last character to be copied is at index `srcEnd-1`. These characters are copied into `dst`, starting at index `dstBegin` and ending at index:

      dstBegin + (srcEnd-srcBegin) - 1

### hashCode

#### `public int hashCode()`

Returns

  A hashcode based on the sequence of characters in this string.

Overrides

  `Object.hashCode()`

Description

  This method returns a hashcode based on the sequence of characters this `String` object represents.

  More specifically, one of two algorithms is used to compute a hash code for the string, depending on its length. If n is the length of the string and S_i is the character at position i in the string, then if n = 15 the method returns:

  If n > 15, the method returns:

### indexOf

#### `public int indexOf(int ch)`

Parameters

  `ch`

    A `char` value.

Returns

  The index of the first occurrence of the given character in this string or `-1` if the character does not occur.

Description

  This method returns the index of the first occurrence of the given character in this `String` object. If there is no such occurrence, the method returns the value `-1`.

#### `public int indexOf(int ch, int fromIndex)`

Parameters

  `ch`

    A `char` value.

  `fromIndex`

    The index where the search is to begin.

Returns

  The index of the first occurrence of the given character in this string after `fromIndex` or `-1` if the character does not occur.

Description

  This method returns the index of the first occurrence of the given character in this `String` object after ignoring the first `fromIndex` characters. If there is no such occurrence, the method returns the value `-1`.

#### `public int indexOf(String str)`

Parameters

  `str`

    A `String` object.

Returns

  The index of the first occurrence of `str` in this string or `-1` if the substring does not occur.

Description

  This method returns the index of the first character of the first occurrence of the substring `str` in this `String` object. If there is no such occurrence, the method returns the value `-1`.

#### `public int indexOf(String str, int fromIndex)`

Parameters

  `str`

    A `String` object.

  `fromIndex`

    The index where the search is to begin.

Returns

  The index of the first occurrence of `str` in this string after `fromIndex` or `-1` if the substring does not occur.

Description

  This method returns the index of the first character of the first occurrence of the substring `str` in this `String` object after ignoring the first `fromIndex` characters. If there is no such occurrence, the method returns the value `-1`.

### intern

#### `public native String intern()`

Returns

  A `String` object that is guaranteed to be the same object for every `String` that contains the same character sequence.

Description

  This method returns a canonical representation for this `String` object. The returned `String` object is guaranteed to be the same `String` object for every `String` object that contains the same character sequence. In other words, if:

      s1.equals(s2)

  then:

      s1.intern() == s2.intern()

  The `intern`() method is used by the Java environment to ensure that `String` literals and constant-value `String` expressions that contain the same sequence of characters are all represented by a single `String` object.

### lastIndexOf

#### `public int lastIndexOf(int ch)`

Parameters

  `ch`

    A `char` value.

Returns

  The index of the last occurrence of the given character in this string or `-1` if the character does not occur.

Description

  This method returns the index of the last occurrence of the given character in this `String` object. If there is no such occurrence, the method returns the value `-1`.

#### `public int lastIndexOf(int ch, int fromIndex)`

Parameters

  `ch`

    A `char` value.

  `fromIndex`

    The index where the search is to begin.

Returns

  The index of the last occurrence of the given character in this string after `fromIndex` or `-1` if the character does not occur.

Description

  This method returns the index of the last occurrence of the given character in this `String` object after ignoring the first `fromIndex` characters. If there is no such occurrence, the method returns the value `-1`.

#### `public int lastIndexOf(String str)`

Parameters

  `str`

    A `String` object.

Returns

  The index of the last occurrence of `str` in this string or `-1` if the substring does not occur.

Description

  This method returns the index of the first character of the last occurrence of the substring `str` in this `String` object. If there is no such occurrence, the method returns the value `-1`.

#### `public int lastIndexOf(String str, int fromIndex)`

Parameters

  `str`

    A `String` object.

  `fromIndex`

    The index where the search is to begin.

Returns

  The index of the last occurrence of `str` in this string after `fromIndex` or `-1` if the substring does not occur.

Description

  This method returns the index of the first character of the last occurrence of the substring `str` in this `String` object after ignoring the first `fromIndex` characters. If there is no such occurrence, the method returns the value `-1`.

### length

#### `public int length()`

Returns

  The length of the character sequence represented by this string.

Description

  This method returns the number of characters in the character sequence represented by this `String` object.

### regionMatches

####

     public boolean regionMatches(int toffset, String other, int ooffset, int len)

Parameters

  `toffset`

    The index of the first character in this string.

  `other`

    The `String` object to be used in the comparison.

  `ooffset`

    The index of the first character in `other`.

  `len`

    The length of the sub-sequences to be compared.

Returns

  `true` if the sub-sequences are identical; otherwise `false`.

Description

  This method determines whether or not the specified sub-sequences in this `String` object and `other` are identical. The method returns false if `toffset` is negative, if `ooffset` is negative, if `toffset+len` is greater than the length of this string, or if `ooffset+len` is greater than the length of `other`. Otherwise, the method returns `true` if for all nonnegative integers `k` less than `len` it is true that:

      this.charAt(toffset+k) == other.charAt(ooffset+k)

####

     public boolean regionMatches(boolean ignoreCase, int toffset, String other, int ooffset, int len)

Parameters

  `ignoreCase`

    A `boolean` value that indicates whether case should be ignored.

  `toffset`

    The index of the first character in this string.

  `other`

    The `String` object to be used in the comparison.

  `ooffset`

    The index of the first character in `other`.

  `len`

    The length of the sub-sequences to be compared.

Returns

  `true` if the sub-sequences are identical; otherwise `false`. The `ignoreCase` argument controls whether or not case is ignored in the comparison.

Description

  This method determines whether or not the specified sub-sequences in this `String` object and `other` are identical. The method returns false if `toffset` is negative, if `ooffset` is negative, if `toffset+len` is greater than the length of this string, or if `ooffset+len` is greater than the length of `other`. Otherwise, if `ignoreCase` is `false`, the method returns `true` if for all nonnegative integers `k` less than `len` it is true that:

      this.charAt(toffset+k) == other.charAt(ooffset+k)

  If `ignoreCase` is `true`, the method returns `true` if for all nonnegative integers `k` less than `len` it is true that:

      Character.toLowerCase(this.charAt(toffset+k))
      == Character.toLowerCase(other.charAt(ooffset+k))

  or:

      Character.toUpperCase(this.charAt(toffset+k))
      == Character.toUpperCase(other.charAt(ooffset+k))

### replace

#### `public String replace(char oldChar, char newChar)`

Parameters

  `oldChar`

    The character to be replaced.

  `newChar`

    The replacement character.

Returns

  A new `String` object that results from replacing every occurrence of `oldChar` in the string with `newChar`.

Description

  This method returns a new `String` object that results from replacing every occurrence of `oldChar` in this `String` object with `newChar`. If there are no occurrences of `oldChar`, the method simply returns this `String` object.

### startsWith

#### `public boolean startsWith(String prefix)`

Parameters

  `prefix`

    The `String` object prefix to be tested.

Returns

  `true` if this string begins with the sequence of characters specified by `prefix`; otherwise `false`.

Description

  This method determines whether or not this `String` object begins with the specified `prefix`.

#### `public boolean startsWith(String prefix, int toffset)`

Parameters

  `prefix`

    The `String` object prefix to be tested.

  `toffset`

    The index where the search is to begin.

Returns

  `true` if this string contains the sequence of characters specified by `prefix` starting at the index `toffset`; otherwise `false`.

Description

  This method determines whether or not this `String` object contains the specified `prefix` at the index specified by `toffset`.

### substring

#### `public String substring(int beginIndex)`

Parameters

  `beginIndex`

    The index of the first character in the substring.

Returns

  A new `String` object that contains the sub-sequence of this string that starts at `beginIndex` and extends to the end of the string.

Throws

  `StringIndexOutOfBoundsException`

    If `beginIndex` is less than zero or greater than or equal to the length of the string.

Description

  This method returns a new `String` object that represents a sub-sequence of this `String` object. The sub-sequence consists of the characters starting at `beginIndex` and extending through the end of this `String` object.

#### `public String substring(int beginIndex, int endIndex)`

Parameters

  `beginIndex`

    The index of the first character in the substring.

  `endIndex`

    The index after the last character in the substring.

Returns

  A new `String` object that contains the sub-sequence of this string that starts at `beginIndex` and extends to the character at `endindex-1`.

Throws

  `StringIndexOutOfBoundsException`

    If `beginIndex` or `endIndex` is less than zero or greater than or equal to the length of the string.

Description

  This method returns a new `String` object that represents a sub-sequence of this `String` object. The sub-sequence consists of the characters starting at `beginIndex` and extending through `endIndex-1` of this `String` object.

### toCharArray

#### `public char[] toCharArray()`

Returns

  A new `char` array that contains the same sequence of characters as this string.

Description

  This method returns a new `char` array that contains the same sequence of characters as this `String`object. The length of the array is the same as the length of this `String` object.

### toLowerCase

#### `public String toLowerCase()`

Returns

  A new `String` object that contains the characters of this string converted to lowercase.

Description

  This method returns a new `String` that represents a character sequence of the same length as this `String` object, but with each character replaced by its lowercase equivalent if it has one. If no character in the string has a lowercase equivalent, the method returns this `String` object.

#### `public String toLowerCase(Locale locale)`

Availability

  New as of JDK 1.1

Parameters

  `locale`

    The `Locale` to use.

Returns

  A new `String` object that contains the characters of this string converted to lowercase using the rules of the specified locale.

Description

  This method returns a new `String` that represents a character sequence of the same length as this `String` object, but with each character replaced by its lowercase equivalent if it has one according to the rules of the specified locale. If no character in the string has a lowercase equivalent, the method returns this `String` object.

### toString

#### `public String toString()`

Returns

  This `String` object.

Overrides

  `Object.toString()`

Description

  This method returns this `String` object.

### toUpperCase

#### `public String toUpperCase()`

Returns

  A new `String` object that contains the characters of this string converted to uppercase.

Description

  This method returns a new `String` that represents a character sequence of the same length as this `String` object, but with each character replaced by its uppercase equivalent if it has one. If no character in the string has an uppercase equivalent, the method returns this `String` object.

#### `public String toUpperCase(Locale locale)`

Availability

  New as of JDK 1.1

Parameters

  `locale`

    The `Locale` to use.

Returns

  A new `String` object that contains the characters of this string converted to uppercase using the rules of the specified locale.

Description

  This method returns a new `String` that represents a character sequence of the same length as this `String` object, but with each character replaced by its uppercase equivalent if it has one according to the rules of the specified locale. If no character in the string has an uppercase equivalent, the method returns this `String` object.

### trim

#### `public String trim()`

Returns

  A new `String` object that represents the same character sequence as this string, but with leading and trailing whitespace and control characters removed.

Description

  If the first and last character in this `String` object are greater than `'\u0020'` (the space character), the method returns this `String` object. Otherwise, the method returns a new `String` object that contains the same character sequence as this `String` object, but with leading and trailing characters that are less than `'\u0020'`' removed.

## Inherited Methods

Method | Inherited From | Method | Inherited From
--- | --- | --- | ---
`clone()` | `Object` | `finalize()` | `Object`
`getClass()` | `Object` | `notify()` | `Object`
`notifyAll()` | `Object` | `wait()` | `Object`
`wait(long)` | `Object` | `wait(long, int)` | `Object`

## See Also

`Class`, `Character`, `Double`, `Float`, `Integer`, `Locale`, `Long`, `Object`, `StringBuffer`, `StringIndexOutOfBoundsException`, `UnsupportedEncodingException`

StackOverflowError |  | StringBuffer