String Concatenation by concat()

The String concat() method concatenates the specified string to the end of
current string.

Syntax: public String concat(String another)

Let's see the example of String concat() method.

Example9

Output: javapython

Although it is important to note that Strings are immutable. Now lets see
what does this mean.

Immutable String in java

In java, string objects are immutable. Immutable simply means unmodifiable
or unchangeable.

Once string object is created its data or state can't be changed but a new string
object is created.

Let's try to understand the immutability concept by the example given below:
Example10

Output:

In java whenever an immutable string is attempted to be modified then that string will not be
modified, instead another string is created in non-constant pool with new reference. And as of
now no object is assigned to store the new reference, which is why we cannot see the
concatenated string.

So now let’s see how to get the concatenated string…

Output:

Previously we had a reference for the concatenated string but we did not
assign it to anything, whereas here we are assigning it back to s1 so that now
s1 is pointing to the new concatenated string.

Why string objects are immutable in

java?
Because java uses the concept of string literal.
Suppose there are 5 reference variables, all
refer to one object "java". If one reference
variable changes the value of the object, it will
be affected to all the reference variables. That
is why string objects are immutable in java.

Going further.. If you think we forgot about the third way of comparing
strings that is with the help of compareTo() then certainly we haven’t….So
let’s see how to do it.

The String compareTo() method compares values lexicographically and

returns an integer value that describes if first string is less than, equal to or
greater than second string.

Suppose s1 and s2 are two string variables. If:

 s1 == s2 :0
 s1 > s2 :positive value
 s1 < s2 :negative value

Confused??? Let’s understand with example.

Case1:

S1 = “SACHIN”

S2 =“SAURAV”

Comparison happens as shown below

S A C H I N

S A U R A V

Each character is compared in lexical order. In the above example S,A are same
in both string but when C and U are compared we know that C comes before U
therefore s1 is considered lesser than s2. Which will give negative number
when printed on screen.

Case2:

S1= “SAURAV”

S2= “SACHIN”

Comparison happens as shown below

S A U R A V

S A C H I N

In the above example S,A are same in both string but when U and C are
compared we know that U comes after C therefore s1 is considered greater
than s2. Which will give positive number when printed on screen.

Case3:

S1 = “SACHIN”

S2 =“SACHIN”

Comparison happens as shown below

S A C H I N

S A C H I N

Above we see that all the characters are same in both the strings. Therefore
when compared character by character there is no character greater or
smaller than the other which means it will give the result as 0 when printed on
the screen.
Case4:
S1= “JAVA”
S2= “JAVAC”
Let’s now see what happens when the size of the string is different.
J A V A

J A V A C

We can see that both the strings contain “JAVA” but the second string has
extra character C. Therefore second string is considered to be greater than
the first. And when printed on screen we will get negative number.

There are many such string methods, let’s have a look at

them…
contains() :
The java string contains() method searches the sequence
of characters in this string. It returns true if sequence of
char values are found in this string otherwise returns false.
Syntax: string_name.contains(“sequence”);
Returns: true if sequence of char value exists,
otherwise false.
Throws a NullPointerException if the sequence is null.
endsWith() :
The java string endsWith() method checks if this string ends with given suffix.
It returns true if this string ends with given suffix else returns false.
Syntax: string_name.endsWith(“sequence or character”);
Returns: true or false.
indexOf() :
The java string indexOf() method returns index of given character value or
substring. If it is not found, it returns -1. The index counter starts from zero.
There are 4 types of indexOf method in java. The signature of indexOf methods
are given below:
No. Method Description
1 int indexOf(int ch) Returns index position for the given char value
2 int indexOf(int ch,int Returns index position for the given char value
fromIndex) and from index
3 int indexOf(String substring) Returns index position for the given substring
4 int indexOf(String substring, Returns index position for the given substring
int fromIndex) and from index

Parameters:
 ch: char value i.e. a single character e.g. 'a'
 fromIndex: index position from where index of the char value or
substring is retured
 substring: substring to be searched in this string

Returns: index of the string

charAt() :

The java string charAt() method returns a char value at the given index
number.

The index number starts from 0 and goes to n-1, where n is length of the
string. It returns StringIndexOutOfBoundsException if given index number is
greater than or equal to this string length or a negative number.

Returns : char value

 startsWith() :

The java string startsWith() method checks if this string starts with given
prefix. It returns true if this string starts with given prefix else returns false.

Syntax :
public boolean startsWith(String prefix)
public boolean startsWith(String prefix, int offset)

parameters : prefix : Sequence of character

Returns: true or false

substring() :

The java string substring() method returns a part of the string.

We pass begin index and end index number position in the java substring
method where start index is inclusive and end index is exclusive. In other
words, start index starts from 0 whereas end index starts from 1.

There are two types of substring methods in java string.

Syntax:

1. public String substring(int startIndex)

2. public String substring(int startIndex, int endIndex)

parameters:

 startIndex : starting index is inclusive

 endIndex : ending index is exclusive

Returns: specified string

Throws: StringIndexOutOfBoundsException if start index is negative value or

end index is lower than starting index.
toLowerCase() :

The java string toLowerCase() method returns the string in lowercase letter. In
other words, it converts all characters of the string into lower case letter.

The toLowerCase() method works same as toLowerCase(Locale.getDefault())

method. It internally uses the default locale.

Syntax:

 public String toLowerCase()

 public String toLowerCase(Locale locale)

The second method variant of toLowerCase(), converts all the characters into
lowercase using the rules of given Locale.

Returns: string in lowercase

toUpperCase() :

The java string toUpperCase() method returns the string in uppercase letter. In
other words, it converts all characters of the string into upper case letter.

The toUpperCase() method works same as toUpperCase(Locale.getDefault())

method. It internally uses the default locale.

Syntax:

 public String toUpperCase()

 public String toUpperCase(Locale locale)

The second method variant of toUpperCase(), converts all the characters into
uppercase using the rules of given Locale.

Returns: string in uppercase

There are definitely many other methods which

you will be exploring once you start practicing.