Java - String toCharArray() Method

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The Java String toCharArray() method is used to convert the current string to a character array. This method returns a newly formed character array with a length equal to the given string and with the characters in the given string initialized as its contents.

For example, the string “Tutorials Point” is converted into a new character array “Tutorials Point” where the size of the character is 15 (spaces are included).

Note − Unlike C, in Java, a character array is distinct from a string array and the NULL character cannot terminate either a string or a character array.

Syntax

Following is the syntax for Java String toCharArray() method −

public char[] toCharArray()

Parameters

This method does not accept any parameter.

Return Value

This method returns a newly allocated character array whose length is the length of this string and whose contents are initialized to contain the character sequence represented by this string.

Getting Char Array From a String Example

The following example shows the usage of Java String toCharArray() method by printing the character array of the given string value " Java was developed by James Gosling" −

package com.tutorialspoint;

public class StringDemo {
   public static void main(String[] args) {
      
      // converts String value to character array type value  
      String str = " Java was developed by James Gosling";
      char retval[] = str.toCharArray();    
      
      // displays the converted value     
      System.out.println("Converted value to character array = ");
      System.out.println(retval);
   }
}

Output

If you compile and run the above program, it will produce the following result −

Converted value to character array =
Java was developed by James Gosling

Getting Char Array and its Size From a String Example

Following is an example to print the size of the character array of the given string "Tutorials point!" using toCharArray() method −

package com.tutorialspoint;

public class StringDemo {
   public static void main(String[] args) {
      String s = new String("Tutorials point!");
      char[] array = s.toCharArray();
      System.out.print("The string i:");
      System.out.println(s.toCharArray());
      System.out.println("Size of char is: " + array.length); 
   }
}

Output

If you compile and run the program above, the output will be displayed as follows −

The string i:Tutorials point!
Size of char is: 16

Getting Char Array From a String Example

Let's examine one more char array example. Without having to write any custom code, it is a useful method that returns a char array from the string −

package com.tutorialspoint;

public class StringDemo {
   public static void main(String[] args) {
      String s = "Programming";
      char[] c = s.toCharArray();
      System.out.println("Size of char array: " + c.length);
      System.out.println("Elements of character array: ");
      for (int i = 0; i < c.length; i++) {
         System.out.println(c[i]);
      }
   }
}

Output

On executing the program above, the output is obtained as follows −

Size of char array: 11
Elements of character array:
P
r
o

g
r
a
m
m
i
n
g

Getting Char Array From a String Example

Below is the code to return the character array of the string value passed as an argument by iterating over the string through a loop −

package com.tutorialspoint;

public class StringDemo {
   public static void main(String args[]) {
      String s = "Tutorials Point";
      char[] c = s.toCharArray();
      int l = c.length;
      for (int i = 0; i < l; i++) {
         System.out.print(c[i]);
      }
   }
}

Output

The output of the above program is as follows −

Tutorials Point