asked on 5/14/2011

Split() in Java

When I try this code below, a String array containing 3 elements is returned. But if you take a look at the code, there are two more semicolons in the end.

My question is, why 3 elements is returned instead of 4 elements since the space could also be counted and stored in the String array?

"name:john;;sex:m;;".split(";");

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I will appreciate your response!

Java

Last Comment

techbro

5/15/2011

mrjoltcola

5/14/2011

Well there is no space, so it is empty string.

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mrjoltcola

5/14/2011

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techbro

5/15/2011

ASKER

mrjoltcola, thank you for your response.
One more thing I need to know. Are the "empty string" and NULL similar to each other?

mrjoltcola

5/15/2011

Not in Java. An empty string is a valid string object of 0 length (""). null is the complete absence of a string object.

So the difference is it is legal to use an empty string as a string object, to test it, call methods on it:

string empty = "";
string sNull = null;

if(empty[0] == 'A') // legal, will execute (but will eval to false)
;

if(sNull[0] == 'A') // will throw null pointer exceptin
;

techbro

5/15/2011

ASKER

Thanks!