CHAPTER : String Handling

Working with Strings : (User defined data type)

- Strings in Java are created by declaring object of String type class and
initializing it with a string literal.(Eg:”Java”, “Hello” etc)
- String class instances or objects can hold unchanging string (immutable
String) ie., once initialized its contents cannot be modified.
- In Java, string is basically an object that represents sequence of char
values.
For example, "hello" is a string containing a sequence of characters 'H' , 'e' ,
'l' , 'l' , and 'o' .

Creating Strings:

String str;

Or

String str=”Hello”

Or

String str=new String(“Hello”);

String class methods :

double sqrt(int)
eg : double res=Math.sqrt(25);

1 ) int length() – returns the number of letters/characters in a string variable.

Example :
String str=”Hello”; H e l l o
0 1 2 3 4
int len=str.length();
System.out.println(len);// 5
2) char charAt(int index) – returns a character from a string at specified index
 Example : //Considering str=”Hello” as given above
char ch=str.charAt(1);
System.out.println(ch);// e

3) String toLowerCase() –returns given string in lowercase.

Example :
String str=”CompUTer123”;
String res=str.toLowerCase();
System.out.println(res);//computer123
System.out.println(str);//CompUTer123

4) String toUpperCase() –returns given string in uppercase

Example :
String str=”CompUTer123”;
String res=str.toUpperCase();
System.out.println(res);//COMPUTER123
System.out.println(str);//CompUTer123

5) String trim() – removes space from both ends of the given string
Example : Hi Java
String str=” Hi Java “; 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

// There are 2 spaces in the beginning and in between 3 spaces and at the end 3
spaces.
//the below command is to check the length before applying trim() command, so
that changes can be verified by applying trim() command
int len=str.length();
System.out.println(len);//14 – check the string with index given in pic
System.out.println(“Hello”+str+”easy”); //Hello Hi Java easy

( check the spaces )

//removes the spaces at the beginning and at the end
String res=str.trim();
System.out.println(res);//Hi Java
System.out.println(“Hello”+res+”easy”);//HelloHi Javaeasy
Note :Check the output given above , only the space at the beginning and at the
end is removed but the space in between the string remains as it is.
In the above example 3 spaces in between Hi and Java remains as it is.

len=res.length();
System.out.println(len);//9 , previously length was 14
System.out.println(“Hello”+str+”easy”); //Hello Hi Java easy
Note : Original string remains unchanged

6) int indexOf(char ch) – returns the index of the first occurrence of specified
character from a given string.
Example :String str=”Letter”; L e t t e r
0 1 2 3 4 5

int pos=str.indexOf(„e‟);
System.out.println(pos);//1
7) int lastIindexOf(char ch) – returns the index of the last occurrence of
specified character from a given string.
Example :String str=”Letter”;

int pos=str.lastIndexOf(„e‟); L e t t e r
0 1 2 3 4 5
System.out.println(pos);//4
8) String concat(String str) – Concatenate the specified string to the end of the
given string
Example :
String str1=”Computer”;
String str2=”Applications”;
String str3=str1.concat(str2);
System.out.println(str1);//Computer
System.out.println(str2);//Applications
System.out.println(str3);//ComputerApplications
OR , using + to concatenate ,
Str3=str1+str2;

9) String replace(char oldchar,char newchar) – returns a string by replaces all

occurrences of old character with the new character specified.
Example :
String str1=”Hello”;
String res=str1.replace(„l‟,‟*‟);
System.out.println(str1);//Hello
System.out.println(res);//He**o

10) String substring(int begindex) – returns a part of the string(substring) from

the specified index till the end of given string.
Example “
String str=”Examination”;
String res=str.substring(5); E xa m i n a t i o n
System.out.println(res);//nation 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

System.out.println(str);// Examination
10) String substring(int begindex,int endIndex) - returns a part of the
string(substring) from the beginning index up to the ending index specified from a
given string.
Note : Extracts up to ending index( Excluding ending index)
 String str=”Examination”;
String res=str.substring(0,4); E xa m i n a t i o n
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
System.out.println(res);//Exam
System.out.println(str);// Examination Up to 4 but 4 not included

11) boolean equals(String)

- return type ie., output of equals() is boolean type.
- returns true if two strings are equal otherwise returns false.
Eg1 : String s1=”Hello”;
String s2=”HELLO”;
boolean res=s1.equals(s2);
System.out.println(res);//false because it is case sensitive ie uppercase and
lowercase letters are treated differently.
Eg2 : String s1=”Hello”;
String s2=”Hello”;
boolean res=s1.equals(s2);
System.out.println(res);//true

12) boolean equalsIgnoreCase(String)

- return type ie., output of equalsIgnoreCase() is boolean type.
- returns true if two strings are equal by ignoring cases otherwise returns false.
Eg1:
String s1=”Hello”;
String s2=”HELLO”;
boolean res=s1.equalsIgnoreCase(s2);
System.out.println(res);//true – Ignores case and checks for equality.

Eg2 : String s1=”Hello”;

String s2=”Java”;
boolean res=s1.equalsIgnoreCase(s2);
System.out.println(res);//false

13) boolean startsWith(String srch)

- return type ie., output of startsWith() is boolean type.
- returns true if a string is starting with search pattern otherwise returns
false.
Eg1 : String s1=”Hello”;
boolean res=s1.startsWith(“HE”);
 System.out.println(res);//false because it is case sensitive ie
uppercase and lowercase letters are treated
differently ie He is not same as HE.
Eg2 : String s1=”Hello”;
boolean res=s1.startsWith(“He”);
System.out.println(res);//true

14) boolean endsWith(String srch)

- return type ie., output of endsWith() is boolean type.
- returns true if a string is ending with search pattern otherwise returns
false.

Eg1 : String s1=”World!”;

boolean res=s1.endsWith(“rld”);
System.out.println(res);//false because ! is missing ie., it ends with
rld!

Eg2 : String s1=” World!”;

boolean res=s1.endsWith(“rld!”);
System.out.println(res);//true

15) int compareTo(String)

 return type is integer ie., result obtained be compareTo command is of
type int.
 Compares two strings lexicographically (dictionary order). ie.,
o If s1 is bigger than s2 then it given +ve result ( >0 )
o If s1 is less than s2 then it gives –ve result ( <0)
o If s1 is equal to s2 the it gives result as 0

Eg 1: String s1=”Adit”;
String s2=”Abhi”
int res=s1.compareTo(s2);
System.out.println(res); // 2

Explanation:
First letters of both the strings are same , therefore it takes the 2nd letter & the
letters are different , then it gives difference of these letters.
 S1 - d – Ascii value 100
S2 - b – Ascii value-------- 98
Difference 2 ( +ve result ie., when string1>string2 it gives >0)

Eg2 : String s1=”Adit”;

String s2=”Abhi”
int res=s2.compareTo(s1);
System.out.println(res); // -2

1st string 2nd string

Explanation:
First letters of both the strings are same , therefore it takes the 2nd letter & the
letters are different , then it gives difference of these letters.
S2 - b – Ascii value 98
S1 - d – Ascii value------- 100
Difference -2 ( -ve result ie., when string1<string2 then <0)

Eg3 : String s1=”Adit”;

String s2=”Adit”;
int res=s1.compareTo(s2);
System.out.println(res); // 0 because both the strings are equal

Eg4 : String s1=”ABHI”;

String s2=”Abhi”;
int res=s1.compareTo (s2);
System.out.println(res); // -32 because 66-98= - 32
Explanation:

S1 - B – Ascii value 66
S2 - b – Ascii value-------- 98
Difference -32 ( -ve result ie., when string1<string2 then <0))

16) int compareToIgnoreCase (String)

 return type is integer ie., result obtained be compareToIgnoreCase
command is of type int.
  Compares two strings lexicographically (dictionary order)by ignoring the
cases ie.,
o If s1 is bigger than s2 then it given +ve result ( >0 )
o If s1 is less than s2 then it gives –ve result ( <0)
o If s1 is equal to s2 the it gives result as 0
Eg4 : String s1=”ABHI”;
String s2=”Abhi”;
int res=s1.compareToIgnoreCase(s2);
System.out.println(res); // 0 because both the strings are
equal by ignoring the case.
Explanation:

S1 - B – Ascii value 66
S2 - B – Ascii value ------- 66
Difference 0 ( Zero result ie., when string1=
String2 then 0))

17) String valueOf(all types) - returns the String representation of the type of data
passed to it as an argument .

Example :
1) to convert an integer to String
int i=100;
String s1=String.valueOf(i);// converts int to String
System.out.println(s1+9); //1009 – concatenates as 100 is String type

2) To convert float to string

float num=50.75f;
String s2=String.valueOf(num);
System.out.println(s2+34); //50.7534

Objective type questions :

[ Give 2 lines gap between the questions to write the answers & will be
discussed in Online class]
I . Give java instructions for the following :
1. Store “Bangalore” in a variable place.
2. Print the number of characters in above place.
3. Input a student First name in a variable First [ Eg. Subhash”]
4. Input a student Middle name in a variable Mid[ Eg : Chandra ]
5. Input surname(Lastname) in a variable Last.[ Eg: Bose]
6. Concatenate First,Mid and Last name separated by space and store it in a variable
Stdname.
Eg :Subhash Chandra Bose
7. Extract the letters from variable Place so as to get the output as – B‟lore
8. Extract only the first and last name from the variable stdname.
9. Compare Place with “BANGALORE” and store the result in a variable boolean
res.
10. Compare the stdname with “SUBHASH” and collect the result in a variable
diff1.
11. Compare the stdname with “SUBHASH” by ignoring the case and collect the
result in a variable diff2.
12. Check whether the stdname is starting with “SA” and collect the result in a
variable result.
13. Compare place name “bangalore” by ignoring the case and collect the result in
a variable ans.
14. Check whether the stdname is ending with “SE” and collect the result in a
variable chk.
15. Convert the stdname to uppercase and print it.
17. Print index number of the first and last occurrence of the letter „s‟ and collect
the result in a variable pos1 and pos2.
18. Print the first and last letter from the string Place.
19. Replace all occurrence of the letter ‘a’in a variable Place and print it.
20. Convert the number 100.50 to its equivalent string.

Practice 25A HW questions on String Handling

1. Write a program to initialize string with a full path and filename as given below :
String str=”C:\Users\Student\Prgrams\file1.java”
Using String methods extract and output the file path, filename and extension separately
as shown. Also check whether given file is java file or not , and display Type of the file
as “ Java File “ or “Not a java file"
Output : PATH : C:\Users\Student\Prgrams\
FILE NAME : file1
EXTENSION : java
TYPE : JAVA FILE
Solution :
Program :
class PR25A_HW1
{
static void main()
 {
String str="C:\\Users\\Student\\Prgrams\\file1.java";
String path,file,ext;
int p1,p2;
p1=str.lastIndexOf('\\');
path=str.substring(0,p1+1);
p2=str.indexOf('.');
file=str.substring(p1+1,p2);
ext=str.substring(p2);
System.out.println("PATH :"+path);
System.out.println("FILE :"+file);
System.out.println("EXTENSION :"+ext);
if(str.endsWith(".java"))
System.out.println("TYPE : JAVA FILE");
else
System.out.println("TYPE : NOT A JAVA FILE");
}
} Input/Output
PATH :C:\Users\Student\Prgrams\
FILE :file1
EXTENSION :.java
TYPE : JAVA FILE

2. Write a program to initialize a variable name as given below :

String name=”Subhash Chandra Bose”.
Using string methods extract first name last name and middle name as given below :

Output :
First Name : Subhash
Middle Name : Chandra
Last Name : Bose