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El Dick - I2211 1
Class String
2
Creates object that represents a string of characters
Belongs to java.lang package
Like other classes, has constructors and methods
Unlike other classes, has 2 operators: + and += (for
concatenation)
STRINGS
Chapter 4 M. El Dick - I2211
Literal Strings Literal Strings (cont’d)
3 4
Can be assigned to string variables
Anonymous constant objects of the String class
Can be passed to methods and constructors as
Defined as text in double quotes parameters
“java”, “hello\n” Have methods you can call:
Don’t have to be constructed: they are “just there”
String word = “start";
if ("Start".equals(word)) ...
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Immutability Immutability (cont’d)
5 6
Once created, a string cannot be changed: Advantage: more efficient, no need to copy
No methods changes the string
String s1 = "Sun"; String s1 = "Sun";
String s2 = s1; String s2 = new String(s1);
Such objects are called immutable
s1 s1 "Sun"
"Sun"
s2 s2 "Sun"
OK Less efficient: wastes
memory
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Immutability (cont’d) Empty Strings
10-7 10-8
Disadvantage: less efficient An empty string has no characters, length = 0
Need to create a new string and throw away the old one
for every small change String s1 = ""; Empty strings
String s2 = new String();
String s = "sun";
char ch = Character.toUpperCase(s.charAt (0));
s = ch + s.substring (1);
Not to be confused with an uninitialized string:
s "sun" String errorMsg; errorMsg is
null
"Sun"
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Constructors Methods — length, charAt
10-9 10
No-args and copy constructors are not used much int length ();
returns the number of characters in the string
String s1 = new String (); String s1 = "";
String s2 = new String (s1); String s2 = s1; char charAt (k);
Character positions are
returns the k-th char numbered starting from 0
Other constructors convert arrays into strings Returns:
”Flower".length(); 6
”Wind".charAt (2);
’n'
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Methods — substring Methods — Concatenation
10-11 10-12
String s2 = s.substring (i, k); String result = s1 + s2;
concatenates s1 and s2
returns the substring of chars in positions from i to k-1
String result = s1.concat (s2);
String s2 = s.substring (i); the same as s1 + s2
returns the substring from the i-th char to the end
result += s3;
Returns:
concatenates s3 to result
”strawberry".substring (2,5); "raw"
"unhappy".substring (2); "happy"
"emptiness".substring (9); "" (empty string) result += num;
converts num to String and concatenates it to result
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Methods — Find (indexOf) Methods — Comparisons
10-13 10-14
0 8 11 15 boolean b = s1.equals(s2);
returns true if the string s1 is equal to s2
String date ="July 5, 2012 1:28:19 PM";
Returns:
boolean b = s1.equalsIgnoreCase(s2);
date.indexOf ('J'); 0
returns true if the string s1 matches s2, case-blind
date.indexOf ('2'); 8
date.indexOf ("2012"); 8 int diff = s1.compareTo(s2);
date.indexOf ('2', 9); 11 Starts searching at
position 9 returns the “difference” s1 - s2
date.indexOf ("2020"); -1 Not found int diff = s1.compareToIgnoreCase(s2);
date.lastIndexOf ('2'); 15 returns the “difference” s1 - s2, case-blind
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Methods — Replacements Replacements (cont’d)
10-15 10-16
String s2 = s1.trim (); Example: how to convert s1 to upper case
returns a new string formed from s1 by removing white space at
both ends s1 = s1.toUpperCase();
String s2 = s1.replace(oldCh, newCh); A common bug:
returns a new string formed from s1 by replacing all occurrences of
oldCh with newCh s1 remains
s1.toUpperCase();
unchanged
String s2 = s1.toUpperCase();
String s2 = s1.toLowerCase();
returns a new string formed from s1 by converting its characters to
upper (lower) case
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Numbers to Strings Numbers to Strings (cont’d)
10-17 10-18
3 ways to convert a number into a string: The DecimalFormat class can be used for formatting
String s = "" + num; numbers into strings
import java.text.DecimalFormat;
...
String s = Integer.toString (i); DecimalFormat money = new DecimalFormat("0.00");
String s = Double.toString (d); ...
double amt = 56.7381;
...
String s = money.format (amt);
String s = String.valueOf (num); 56.7381
"56.74"
M. El Dick - I2211 M. El Dick - I2211
Numbers to Strings (cont’d) Numbers from Strings
10-19 10-20
Java 5.0 added printf and format methods: if s not a valid number (integer, real number), ERROR
int m = 5, d = 19, y = 2007;
double amt = 123.5;
String s1 = "-123", s2 = "123.45";
System.out.printf (
int n = Integer.parseInt(s1);
"Date: %02d/%02d/%d Amount = %7.2f\n", m,
d, y, amt); double x = Double.parseDouble(s2);
String s = String. format(
"Date: %02d/%02d/%d Amount = %7.2f\n", m,
d, y, amt);
"Date: 05/19/2007 Amount 123.50"
M. El Dick - I2211 M. El Dick - I2211
Character Methods (cont’d) Character methods (cont’d)
10-21 10-22
if (Character.isDigit (ch)) ... char ch2 = Character.toUpperCase (ch1);
.isLetter... .toLowerCase (ch1);
.isLetterOrDigit... if ch1 is a letter, returns its upper (lower) case; otherwise
returns ch1
.isUpperCase...
Whitespace is etc.
.isLowerCase... space, tab,
.isWhitespace... newline, etc.
return true if ch belongs to the corresponding
category
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Exercise 1
24
23 Exercises Hexadecimal digits : digits '0' through '9' + letters 'A' through 'F'
Write a function hexValue that uses a switch statement to find the
hexadecimal value of a given character
Character is a parameter to the function
Hexadecimal value of character is the return value of the function
If parameter is not one of the legal hexadecimal digits, return -1
M. El Dick - I2211 M. El Dick - I2211
boolean valid;
valid = true; // Assume that the input is valid, and change our mind if we find an invalid
Exercise 2
character.
for ( i = 0; i < hex.length(); i++ )
25 if ( hexValue(hex.charAt(i)) == -1 ) { // Character number i is bad.
valid = false ;
Hexadecimal integer = sequence of hexadecimal digits
break; // Leave the for loop, since we are now sure of the answer.
If str is a string containing a hexadecimal integer, then its }
decimal integer is computed : if ( valid ) { // If the input is valid, compute and print base-10 value
value = 0; dec = 0 ;
for ( i = 0; i < str.length(); i++ ) for ( i = 0 ; i < hex.length() ; i++ )
dec = 16*dec + hexValue( hex.charAt(i) );
value = value*16 + hexValue( str.charAt(i) );
System.out.println("Base-10 value is: " + dec);
}
Write a program that reads a string from the user. else { // Input is not valid, print an error message
If all the characters in the string are hexadecimal digits, System.out.println("Error: Input is not a hexadecimal number.");
print out the corresponding decimal value. }
If not, print out an error message.
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dec = 0;
for ( i = 0; i < hex.length(); i++) {
Exercise 3
28
int digit = hexValue( hex.charAt(i) );
Write a program that can:
if (digit == -1) {
Remove the 1st three occurrences of the character ‘m’
System.out.println("Error: Input is not a hexadecimal number.");
(capital or small) from “I’m a JaVa PrOgRaMmEr” string
return;
Display the resulting string to the screen
}
dec = 16*dec + digit;
}
NOTE: Your program should work for any string having
at least 3 ‘m’ characters
System.out.println("Base-10 value: " + dec);
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Exercise 4 Exercise 5
29 30
Write a program that splits then prints the 3 components of Write a function that generates a password for a
the following course description: person using its initials and age given as parameters
INFO 311 : Java Programming
as shown below:
Course Name: INFO Use this function in a main method and print the result to
Course Number: 311 the screen
Course Description: Java Programming
NOTE: Your program should work for any course description
following the above format
M. El Dick - I2211 M. El Dick - I2211
public class PasswordMaker {
public String generatePassword(String firstName, String lastName, int Exercise 6
age){ 32
String initials = firstName.substring(0,1) + lastName.substring(0,1);
String password = initials.toLowerCase() + age; Modify the previous exercise in such a way that instead
return password; of taking the name initials, it takes the middle letter
} from the first and last name
public static void main(String[] args) {
String newPassword = generatePassword(“John”, “Smith”, 20);
The obtained letters will be concatenated along with
System.out.println("Your Password = " + newPassword);
} age which is multiplied by 100
}
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Exercise 7 Exercise 8
33 34
Write a program that can exchange the last Write a class that contains :
names of 2 persons a static method findMin(String[] set) that returns the
minimum of a set of positive integers given as an
argument
a method main() defined as follows :
public static void main(String[] arg){
String[] t = {“16”, “2”, “36”, “-64”};
System.out.println(“The minimum is : “ +findMin(t));
}
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