Difference Between StringTokenizer and Split Method in Java

Last Updated : 12 Dec, 2021

Legacy classes and interfaces are the classes and interfaces that formed the Collection Framework in the earlier versions of Java and how now been restructured or re-engineered. Splitting of String is basically breaking the string around matches of the given regular expression.

Strings can be split in many ways in java but the 2 most common ways are using :

StringTokenizer()
split() method

The split() method is preferred and recommended even though it is comparatively slower than StringTokenizer.This is because it is more robust and easier to use than StringTokenizer.

1. String Tokenizer

A token is returned by taking a substring of the string that was used to create the StringTokenizer object. A StringTokenizer object internally maintains a current position within the string to be tokenized.

It has 3 constructors :

StringTokenizer(String str)
StringTokenizer(String str, String delimiter)
StringTokenizer(String str, String delim, boolean flag)

Here,

str: string to tokenized
delimiter:delimiters to tokenize string(+,/ etc)
flag: decides whether to consider delimiter as tokens(True/False)

Java

// Java program to demonstrate working of StringTokenizer()

import java.util.*;

class GFG {
    public static void main(String[] args)
    {
        String str = "This  is  geek";
        StringTokenizer st = new StringTokenizer(str, " ");

        // counting tokens
        System.out.println("Total tokens : "
                           + st.countTokens());

        // checking tokens
        for (int i = 0; st.hasMoreTokens(); i++)
            System.out.println("#" + i + ": "
                               + st.nextToken());
    }
}

Output

Total tokens : 3
#0: This
#1: is
#2: geek

2. Split() String method

The string split() method breaks a given string around matches of the given regular expression.

There are 2 variants of the split() method in Java:

String class method

public String [ ] split ( String regex, int limit )

Here,
split(): method to split stri
regex:a delimiting regular expression
limit:the result threshold

Using java.util.regex package

public String[] split(String regex) 

Here,
split(): method to split string
regex:a delimiting regular expression
limit: default is 0

Java

// Java program to demonstrate split()

import java.util.*;

class GFG {
    public static void main(String[] args)
    {
        String str = " This  is  geek";
        String[] split = str.split(" ");
      
        for (int i = 0; i < split.length; i++)
            System.out.println("#" + i + ": " + split[i]);
    }
}

Output

#0: 
#1: This
#2: 
#3: is
#4: 
#5: geek

Difference Between StringTokenizer and Split Method in Java

StringTokenizer	Split()
It is a legacy class that allows an application to break a string into tokens.	It is a method of the String class or the java.util.regex package that splits this string around matches of the given regular expression.
It returns one substring at a time.	It returns an array of substrings.
It can’t handle empty strings well.	It can handle empty strings when you need to parse empty tokens like ant, bat, pat
It is comparatively less robust & syntactically fussy.	It is more robust & has an easy syntax.
It just accepts a String by which it will split the string	It accepts regular expressions.
The delimiter is just a character long.	The delimiter is a regular expression.
It is essentially designed for pulling out tokens delimited by fixed substrings.	It is essentially designed to parse text data from a source outside your program, like from a file, or from the user.
Because of this restriction, it's about twice as fast as split().	Slower than StringTokeniser
Consists of a constructor with a parameter that allows you to specify possible delimiter characters.	No constructor.