Java “constant string too long” compile error. Only happens using Ant, not when using Eclipse

Question

I have a few really long strings in one class for initializing user information. When I compile in Eclipse, I don\'t get any errors or warnings, and the resulting .jar runs

Answer 1

A workaround is to chunk your string using new String() (yikes) or StringBuilder, e.g.

String CONSTANT = new String("first chunk") 
                + new String("second chunk") + ... 
                + new String("...");

Or

String CONSTANT = new StringBuilder("first chunk")
                .append("second chunk")
                .append("...")
                .toString();

These can be viable options if you're producing this string e.g. from a code generator. The workaround documented in this answer where string literals are concatenated no longer works with Java 11