Unleashing the

Power of
Strings
Introduction to String
Manipulation Process
⮚ String manipulation is a crucial skill for any
Java developer. Strings are used to represent
text in computer programs, and being able to
manipulate them effectively is essential for
creating powerful and efficient applications.
Whether you're working on a web application,
a mobile app, or anything in between,
understanding how to manipulate strings in
Java will help you take your coding skills to
the next level.
String Manipulation
Process
⮚ In Java, a String is an object that
represents a sequence of characters.
String processing refers to the
manipulation of these sequences of
characters, which can involve operations
such as concatenation, substring, and
replacement.
Basic String Operation
⮚ Basic String Operations are the fundamental building blocks of Java
String Manipulation. These operations include concatenation,
comparison, and manipulation of strings. Concatenation is the
process of combining two or more strings into a single string.
Comparison is used to check if two strings are equal or not.
Manipulation involves changing the case of characters, converting
strings to uppercase or lowercase, and finding the length of a string.

⮚ In addition to these basic operations, Java provides several built-in

methods for working with strings. These methods can be used to
search for specific characters or substrings within a string, replace
characters or substrings within a string, and split a string into an
array of substrings based on a character.
 String Concatenation
⮚ The + operator is simple to use and allows
you to concatenate strings with other data
types, such as integers or doubles. However,
it can be inefficient when used repeatedly in
a loop or with large strings. The concat()
method, on the other hand, is more efficient
and is particularly useful for concatenating
multiple strings together.
String concat()
⮚ In java, the concat() is used to
concatenate one string to the end of
another string. It returns a new string that
is the concatenation of the original string
and the string passed as an argument to
the concat() method.
⮚ Note that concat() method only
concatenates the strings and does not
add any spaces or other characters
between them. If you want to add a space
or other characters between the strings,
you can use the + operator instead of
concat() method.
String Length
⮚ The length of a string in Java is the number of

characters it contains. This can be determined using

the length() method, which returns an integer value

representing the length of the string. It is important to

note that this method counts all characters, including

spaces and special characters.

String Length()
⮚ In java, the .length() method is used to
determine the length of characters in a string.
When applied to an array, it returns the number of
elements in the array. When applied to a string, it
returns the number of characters in the string.

⮚ The .length variable stores the length of

the numbers array which is 5. The .length
property is used to get the number of
elements in the array.
String CharAt
⮚ The charAt() function extracts specific
characters from a string, making it useful for
manipulating textual data. It can also be used
within a loop structure to iterate through a
string, allowing the user to scrutinize and
manipulate each character. This is especially
valuable for working with textual data.
String charAt()
⮚ In java, the charAt(index) method is used to
retrieve a character at a specified index position
from a string. It is a method that belongs to the
String class which is a pre-defined Java class that
represents a sequence of characters.

⮚ The charAt(index) takes an integer argument that

represents the index of the character to retrieve.
The index is a zero-based index, which means the
first character in the string has an index of 0, the
Mini Exercise
Print all the vowels of the longest word provided below
in ORDER.

String longestWord =
"PneUmonoUltraMiCroscopIcSilicovOlcANOconiosis";
String substring()
⮚ In Java, the substring() method is used to extract a
substring from a given string. It is a method that belongs to
the String.

⮚ The substring() method method takes one or two integer

arguments that represent the start and end index positions
of the substring to extract.

⮚ If only one argument is passed, the substring starting from

the specified index until the end of the string is returned.

⮚ If two arguments are passed, the substring starting from

the first index up to the second index is returned.
String indexOf()
⮚ In java, indexOf() , method is used to

find the index of the of the first

occurrence of a specified character or

substring within a given string. It is a

method that belongs to the String class.

String replace()
⮚ In Java, the replace() method is used to replace
all occurrences of a specified character or
substring within a given string with a new
character or substring. It is a method that
belongs to the String.

⮚ The replace() method takes two arguments: the

first argument is the character or substring to be
replaced, and the second argument is the new
character or substring that should be used to
replace the old one. The method returns a new
string with all the occurrences of the old
character or substring replaced with the new one.
String toUpperCase()
⮚ In Java, the toUpperCase() method is a

predefined method in the String class that

converts all the lowercase characters in a given

string to uppercase characters.

⮚ It returns a new string with all the lowercase

characters converted to uppercase, leaving the

uppercase characters and non-alphabetic

characters unchanged.
String toLowerCase()
⮚ In java, the toLowerCase() method is a
predefined method in the String that converts all
the uppercase characters in a given string to
lowercase characters.

⮚ It returns a new string with all the uppercase

characters converted to lowercase, leaving the
lowercase characters and non-alphabetic
characters unchanged.
String startsWith()
⮚ In Java, the startsWith() method is is
used to check whether a string starts
with a specific prefix. It returns a
boolean value of true if the string
starts with the specified prefix, and
otherwise false.

⮚ Note that the startsWith() method is

case-sensitive, which means that it
differentiates between uppercase and
lowercase characters.
String endsWith()
⮚ In java, endsWith() is used to
check whether a string ends with a
specific suffix. It returns a boolean
value of true if the string ends
with the specified suffix, and
otherwise false.

⮚ Note that the endsWith() method

is case-sensitive, which means that
it differentiates between uppercase
and lowercase characters.
String trim()
⮚In java, the trim() method is used to
remove whitespace (spaces, tabs)
from both the beginning and end of a
string. It returns a new string with the
whitespace removed.

⮚Note that the trim() method only

removes whitespace from the
beginning and end of the string, not
from within the string itself.
String contains()
⮚ In Java the contains() method is used to check
if a string contains a specified substring. It
returns a boolean value (true or false)
depending on whether the substring is found in
the string or not.

⮚ Note that contains() method is case-sensitive,

which means that it will only match the
substring exactly as it appears in the string.
String equals()
⮚In Java, the equals() method is used to
compare two objects for equality. In the
String, equals() method overridden to
compare two strings for equality, based
on their contents
⮚Note that the equals() method is case-
sensitive, which means that it will only
return true if the two strings have
exactly the same sequence of
characters, including uppercase and
lowercase letters.
equals() vs. ==
⮚ In Java, the equals() method is used to compare
two objects for equality. In the String, equals()
method overridden to compare two strings for
equality, based on their contents
⮚ On the other hand, the == operator is an
operator that is used to compare two objects for
reference equality. When the == operator is
used to compare two objects, it checks whether
they refer to the same object in memory. If the
two objects have the same memory address, the
operator returns true otherwise it returns false
String toCharArray()
⮚ In java, the toCharArray() method
is used to convert a string into an
array of characters.

⮚ The toCharArray() method

returns an array of characters that
contains the same sequence of
characters as the string. Each
element in the array corresponds
to a single character in the string.
Mini Exercise
Write a Java program that takes a String as input and returns a new string that
contains the same characters as the original string, but with each occurrence of
a vowel replaced by the next vowel in the sequence (i.e. 'a' becomes 'e', 'e'
becomes 'i', 'i' becomes 'o', 'o' becomes 'u', and 'u' becomes 'a').
Output:
Original Word: Hello World
Modified Word: Hillu Wurld

Good luck!
StringBuilder for Efficient
String Manipulation
⮚ In Java, strings are immutable objects. This means that every time
you modify a string, a new object is created in memory. This can
lead to performance issues when working with large amounts of
text. StringBuilder is a class that provides a more efficient way to
manipulate strings. It allows you to modify strings without creating
new objects, making your code faster and more efficient.

⮚ To use StringBuilder, you first create an instance of the class. You

can then append, insert, or delete characters from the string using
various methods provided by the class. When you are finished
manipulating the string, you can convert it back to a regular string
using the toString() method. Overall, StringBuilder is a powerful tool
that can greatly improve the performance of your Java programs.
 Append()
This method is used to append a string or any other
data type to the end of the current StringBuilder object.
Insert()
This method is used to insert a string or any other data
type at a specified position within the current
StringBuilder object.
Replace()
This method is used to replace a portion of characters
in the StringBuilder object with a specified string or
sequence of characters.
Delete()
This method is used to remove a portion of characters
from the StringBuilder object based on the specified
start and end index.
charAt()
This method is used to retrieve the character at a
specified index within the StringBuilder object.
Length()
This method returns the length (number of characters) of the
StringBuilder object.
toString()
This method is used to convert the StringBuilder object
to a String. It returns a String representation of the
StringBuilder content.
String Manipulation
Best Practices
⮚ When working with strings in Java, it is important to
remember that they are immutable objects. This
means that any operation you perform on a string
will create a new string object in memory. To avoid
unnecessary memory allocation, it is best to use the
StringBuilder class when concatenating multiple
strings together.

⮚ Another best practice for working with strings in Java

is to always use the equals() method when
comparing two strings. This method compares the
contents of the strings, rather than their memory
addresses, which can lead to unexpected results if