Immutability of Strings in Java

Question

Consider the following example.

String str = new String();

str  = \"Hello\";
System.out.println(str);  //Prints Hello

str = \"Help!\";
System.out.println(s         


        

Answer 1

Like Linus Tolvards said:

Talk is cheap. Show me the code

Take a look at this:

public class Test{
    public static void main(String[] args){

        String a = "Mississippi";
        String b = "Mississippi";//String immutable property (same chars sequence), then same object

        String c = a.replace('i','I').replace('I','i');//This method creates a new String, then new object
        String d = b.replace('i','I').replace('I','i');//At this moment we have 3 String objects, a/b, c and d

        String e = a.replace('i','i');//If the arguments are the same, the object is not affected, then returns same object

        System.out.println( "a==b? " + (a==b) ); // Prints true, they are pointing to the same String object

        System.out.println( "a: " + a );
        System.out.println( "b: " + b );

        System.out.println( "c==d? " + (c==d) ); // Prints false, a new object was created on each one

        System.out.println( "c: " + c ); // Even the sequence of chars are the same, the object is different
        System.out.println( "d: " + d );

        System.out.println( "a==e? " + (a==e) ); // Same object, immutable property
    }
}

The output is

a==b? true
a: Mississippi
b: Mississippi
c==d? false
c: Mississippi
d: Mississippi
a==e? true

So, remember two things:

• Strings are immutable until you apply a method that manipulates and creates a new one (c & d cases).
• Replace method returns the same String object if both parameters are the same