charAt().equals() causes “char cannot be dereferenced”

Question

I am trying to check a string for hyphens at different positions (for a phone number because the input varies), but I keep getting the error

char can

Answer 1

If you use something like this, it will work:

  if (raw.charAt(3) == '-' && raw.charAt(7) == '-') {

      System.out.println("2 Hyphens at 3 and 7");

  } else if (raw.charAt(3) == '-' && raw.charAt(8) == '-') {

      System.out.println("2 Hyphens at 3 and 8");

  } else if (raw.charAt(3) == '-' && raw.charAt(9) == '-') {

      System.out.println("2 Hyphens at 3 and 9");

  }

The problem is that raw.charAt(n) returns a char and not a String. The equals() method can be used only on objects. Char is a primitive data type which has no methods. On chars you should use operators like == or !=.