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Learn about the importance of strings in Java, their manipulation methods, and how to compare them effectively. Explore key string operations and enhance your Java programming skills.
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Strings Are Important • The String class is one of the most important supplied classes with Java. • Besides int and doubles we use chars (single characters) and Strings (multiple characters) the most. • Strings are an abstract data type in Java (cf. primitive data types)
java.lang • They are part of the java.lang package. • A String is a sequence of characters. • Because it’s a sequence, it has an order… • that is, a beginning, a middle, and an end.
String sequences • Each character in a string can be identified by its sequential position. • This position is a number called the index. • The 1st character in a string has an index of zero (0). • This is weird but universal in programming languages.
My Favourite String • Imagine the string “billy”. • Note that billy has 5 characters but that the highest index is 4. • That’s because the index begins at 0. • The index of the last character is the length -1. • This is a big “gotcha”.
Spaces Are Characters Too • The string “billy billy billy.” is 18 characters long. • Why? • Because the spaces count as characters. • So does the period.
String Methods • Java supplies numerous methods to deal with strings. • See p138 in your text. • Lets focus on a couple of key String methods. • Assume: String phrase = “billy”; • length() • System.out.println(phrase.length()); prints 5.
String Methods • toLowerCase() returns a copy of the string with all lower case letters. • System.out.println (phrase.toLowerCase()); prints billy. • toUpperCase() returns a copy of the string with all upper case letters. • System.out.println (phrase.toUpperCase()); prints BILLY.
String Methods • replaceFirst(String str, String str2) returns a string with the 1st occurrence of str replaced by str2. • System.out.println (phrase.replaceFirst(“ill”, “obb”)); prints bobby. • str and str2 do not have to be the same length. • cf. replaceAll(String str, String str2)
String Methods • You need to know all the methods on P138 for the test. • N.B. when we say that a method returns something we mean that the thing which is returned completely replaces the program code that was there before. • So if you assign the result of a method to a variable it must have the right data type.
You Do. • P139: Review: AccountSetup
String Methods (comparison) • Some of the most important methods have to do with comparing strings. • We cannot compare strings using the standard relational operators (<, <=, ==, >, >=). • We must use special String comparison methods instead. • See P140 for a list of important String comparison methods. • Let’s go over the list together.
You Do • P141: Review: FormalGreeting