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Is String Mutable in Java? Why Wrapper Classes are Immutable and Final in Java? | Explain Java Tutorial - Free Online Core Java J2EE Programming Train

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Is String Mutable in Java? Why Wrapper Classes are Immutable and Final in Java?
String Handling, Wrapper Classes

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This tutorial explains Mutability in Java Programming and why Strings & Wrapper classes are immutab le and final in java.

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Mutable vs Immutable objects in java

Any object in java is said to be mutab le if its value can be changed. Immutable objects content can not be changed.

Is String mutable class in java?

No. String is an immutable class in java because we can not change the value of any string object. Lets go in detail with the following example coding:

L i n e1 : L i n e2 :

S t r i n gs t r=" H e l l o " ; s t r=s t r+"W o r l d " ;

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In the above example java program, after Line 1 executes, one String object will be created with value Hello and its reference will be assigned to reference variable called str. Later in Line 2, two string objects would be created with values World and Hello World, hence totally 3 String objects would be created after Line 2 gets executed. The third string object will be assigned to the String type reference variable str as shown in below figure and the remaining two string objects will be left unused (thus creating memory leaks).

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Is String Mutable in Java? Why Wrapper Classes are Immutable and Final in Java? | Explain Java Tutorial - Free Online Core Java J2EE Programming Train website on Java 5 (J2SE 5.0/JDK
1.5) New Features with Examples Tutorial 1 tn requin pas cher on What is Java? How to download Java (J2SE/JDK/JRE), IDE, Javadocs? Indian job links on Is String Mutable in Java? Why Wrapper Classes are Immutable and Final in Java? vinayak on Java 5 (J2SE 5.0/JDK 1.5) New Features with Examples Tutorial 2 claindycreali on Java 5 (J2SE 5.0/JDK 1.5) New Features with Examples Tutorial 1 Sachin Tendulkar Centuries on Java 5 (J2SE 5.0/JDK 1.5) New Features with Examples Tutorial 1 Muneeb on Is String Mutable in Java? Why Wrapper Classes are Immutable and Final in Java? airmaxs53837 on Explain Most Common Exceptions and Errors in Java with Examples louboutin pumps on What is a Java Exception? Explain Exception Handling in Java with Examples Program Here, we are able to change the value of String reference variable str but not the actual string object Hello. When we tried to append some text World to string object, JVM creates new string object with combined text instead of changing the original string object. Because of this, lots of string objects will be created and left unused in memory every time we use + operator for appending strings. Hence, in order to avoid these kinds of memory leaks with immutable strings, we should always use mutable string classes such as StringBuffer or StringBuilder when we need multiple concatenations of strings.

What is meant by a wrapper class in java?

In Java, a wrapper class is nothing but a class in which a primitive type value is wrapped up. These primitive wrapper classes are used to represent primitive data types values as objects. For example, Integer is a primitive wrapper class which holds primitive int type value. Similarly, Float wrapper objects contain float primitive values, Character wrapper class holds a char, and Boolean wrapper class represents boolean primitive type value (true/false). To learn more about java wrapper classes, read Java Wrapper Class Tutorial: Explain Java Wrapper Classes with Examples.

Are wrapper classes mutable in java?

Once again, a big No. Like Strings, primitive wrapper classes in java such as Integer, Float, Long, Byte, Short, and Double are also immutab le classes. Once created, the numbers wrapped within the objects of wrapper classes in java.lang package cant be changed. Example java coding to show that primitive wrapper classes are immutable:

L i n e1 : L i n e2 :

I n t e g e ri=9 9 ; i=i+1 0 ;

/ /A u t o b o x i n g( A u t oB o x i n g ) / /U n b o x i n g

The above code is written in Java 5 (Java 2 Platform Standard Edition 5.0 or J2SE 5.0 or JDK 1.5). Here we have used a new feature of Java 5 called Autoboxing & Unboxing. Autoboxing is nothing but automatic conversion of primitive type values to wrapper class objects. You can learn more about this autoboxing feature in the tutorial Java 5 (J2SE 5.0/JDK 1.5) New Features with Examples Tutorial. In earlier versions of Java (JDK 1.4 or less), we can write the above code as follows:

L i n e1 : L i n e2 :

/ /I n t e g e rw r a p p e rc l a s si n s t a n t i a t i o n I n t e g e ri=n e wI n t e g e r ( 9 9 ) ; i n ti 2=i . i n t V a l u e ( )+1 0 ; i=n e wI n t e g e r ( i 2 ) ;

In either case, JVM creates an Integer object with value 99 and assigns object reference to Integer reference variable i. In order to add, subtract, or do some other operation on Integer object, first JVM extracts the primitive int value from wrapper object and then performs required operation, in this case addition. Later, the result will be wrapped in a new Integer wrapper object and assigned to Integer reference variable. That means we cant change the value of wrapper class objects. I hope by now you understand what is meant by mutability in java programming and that the Strings and Wrapper classes in Java are immutable. Let me explain the reason behind designing Strings and Wrapper classes as immutable and final.

Why Strings and Wrapper classes are immutable and final in java?
Well, we know that Strings and Wrapper classes are used as variables to store basic data. If those classes are mutable, there are plenty of chances for accidental unwanted changes to the basic data. For example, consider the following java program:

c l a s sW h y M u t a b l e { p u b l i cs t a t i cv o i dm a i n ( S t r i n g [ ]a r g s ) { S t r i n gn a m e=" P a r k e r " ; www.explain-java.com/is-string-mutable-in-java-why-wrapper-classes-immutable-in-java/

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Is String Mutable in Java? Why Wrapper Classes are Immutable and Final in Java? | Explain Java Tutorial - Free Online Core Java J2EE Programming Train S t r i n gn a m e=" P a r k e r " ; D o u b l es a l=6 0 0 0 0 . 0 0 ; d i s p l a y T a x ( n a m e ,s a l ) ; }

s t a t i cv o i dd i s p l a y T a x ( S t r i n gn a m e ,D o u b l en u m ){ n a m e=" H e l l o"+n a m e . c o n c a t ( " ! " ) ; n u m=n u m*3 0/1 0 0 ; S y s t e m . o u t . p r i n t l n ( n a m e+"Y o uh a v et op a yt a x$ "+n u m ) ; } } R e s u l t :H e l l oP a r k e r !Y o uh a v et op a yt a x$ 1 8 0 0 0 . 0

In the above java program, it is visible that the parameters name and sal were modified within the method displayTax(). Now, can you guess what could be wrong if Strings and Wrapper classes are mutable? Yes, you are right. Parkers name would be Parker! (worst case might be Hello Parker!) and his salary would become 18000.0. Come on! we dont have rights to reduce parkers salary. As we dont have control on others code, we cant guarantee that the data we are passing is safe and wouldnt be modified if Strings and Wrapper classes are mutable. This is the case with pass by reference of wrapper class parameters as well. And, if strings and wrapper classes are non-final, anybody can extend those classes and write their own code to modify the wrapped primitive data. So, in order to maintain Data Integrity, the variables which we are using for data storage must be read-only, i.e., Strings and Wrapper classes must be final & immutable and pass by reference feature should not be provided.

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2 Responses to Is String Mutable in Java? Why Wrapper Classes are Immutable and Final in Java?
1. Muneeb Says:
May 24th, 2013 at 11:09 am

Excellent explanation!!

2. Indian job links Says:

June 3rd, 2013 at 8:17 pm

Nice article.

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