Java String.substring method potential memory leak?

Question

I was going through the String class API and looks like there is a potential memory leak caused by substring method as it shares same character array as original String.

Answer 1

There is a potential for a memory leak, if you take a substring of a sizable string and not make a copy (usually via the String(String) constructor).

Note that this has changed since Java 7u6. See http://bugs.sun.com/view_bug.do?bug_id=4513622.

The original assumptions around the String object implementing a flyweight pattern are no longer regarded as valid.

See this answer for more info.