Java compressing Strings

Question

I need to create a method that receives a String and also returns a String.

Ex input: AAABBBBCC

Ex output: 3A4B2C

Well, this is quite embarrassing a

Answer 1

public static char[] compressionTester( char[] s){

    if(s == null){
        throw new IllegalArgumentException();
    }

    HashMap map = new HashMap<>();
    for (int i = 0 ; i < s.length ; i++) {

        if(!map.containsKey(s[i])){
            map.put(s[i], 1);
        }
        else{
            int value = map.get(s[i]);
            value++;
            map.put(s[i],value);
        }           
    }               
    String newer="";

    for( Character n : map.keySet()){

        newer = newer + n + map.get(n); 
    }
    char[] n = newer.toCharArray();

    if(s.length > n.length){
        return n;
    }
    else{

        return s;               
    }                       
}