java.lang.Character Class Methods | Set 1 (original) (raw)

Last Updated : 10 Jan, 2025

**java.lang.Character Class wraps the value of a primitive data type **char to an object of datatype Character. This object contains a single field having the data type **char. This class provides several methods regarding character manipulations like converting them from lowercase to uppercase. Character Class is based on Unicode Standards to provide character information.

**Class Declaration

public final class Character
extends Object
implements Serializable, Comparable

Character Class Methods

Methods-of-Character-Class-in-Java

**1. charCount()

**java.lang.charCount() method uses Unicode point to return the number of char values to represent the argument char values. A **Unicode code point is used for character values in the range between U+0000 and U+10FFFF and for 16-bit char values that are code units of the UTF-16 encoding.

**Syntax:

public static int charCount(int argchar)

**Parameters: argchar: Unicode point of the character to be counted.
**Return: 2 if the character is valid i.e. > or = to 0X1000 (supplementary character); else 1

**2. charValue()

The charValue() method returns primitive char value of defined Character Object.

**Syntax:

public char charValue()

**Return Value: The primitive char value of the specified Character object.

**3. codePointAt()

The codePointAt(char[ ] array, int position) method returns Unicode Point of the character array present at the argumented position.

**Syntax:

public static int codePointAt(char[] array, int position)

**Parameters:

array: The character array.
position: The index of the character whose Unicode code point you need.

**Return Value: The Unicode point of the character at the specified position

**Examples Using charCount() , charValue() , and codePointAt() Methods:

JAVA `

// Java program explaining Character class methods // charCount(), charValue(), codePointat() import java.lang.Character;

public class Geeks { public static void check(int ele) {

      // Checking for geek
      if (ele == 2)
        System.out.println("Valid Character geek");
    else
        System.out.println("Invalid Character geek");
}
  
public static void main(String[] args)
{
    // Use of charCount() method
    int geek = 0x9999,
        geek1 = 0x10000, 
        geek2 = 0x10001; 

    int c = Character.charCount(geek);
    int c1 = Character.charCount(geek1);
    int c2 = Character.charCount(geek2);

      check(c);
      check(c1);
      check(c2);

    System.out.println();

    // Character object m
    Character m; 

      // Assigning value g to m;
    m = new Character('g'); 

    char gfg;
  
      // Use of charValue() method
    gfg = m.charValue();
  
    System.out.println("Primitive value of gfg : "+ gfg);
    System.out.println();

    // Use of codePointAt()
    char[] arg = new char[] { 'g', 'e', 'e', 'k', 's' };
    int val, val1, position = 3;

    val = Character.codePointAt(arg, position);
    val1 = Character.codePointAt(arg, 0);

    System.out.println("Unicode code point at "
                       + position + " : " + val);
  
    System.out.println("Unicode code point at 0 : "
                       + val1);
}

}

Output

Invalid Character geek Valid Character geek Valid Character geek

Primitive value of gfg : g

Unicode code point at 3 : 107 Unicode code point at 0 : 103

**4. codePointBefore()

The codePointBefore(char[ ] array, int position) method returns Unicode Point of the character array present before the argumented position.

**Syntax:

public static int codePointBefore(char[] array, int position)
or
public static int codePointBefore(char[] array, int position, int start)

**Parameters:

array: The character array.
position: The index of the character whose preceding Unicode point is needed.
start: The start index of the character array (optional).

**Return Value: The Unicode point of the character before the specified position.

**5. codePointCount()

The codePointCount() method returns number of Unicode Point of the sub-character array.

**Syntax:

public static int codePointCount(char[] array, int start, int len)

**Parameters:

array: The character array.
start: The starting index of the sub-array.
len: The length of the sub-array.

**Return Value: The number of Unicode code points in the sub-array.

**Exceptions:

NullPointerException: If the character array is null.
IndexOutOfBoundsException: If the specified range is invalid.

**6. compareTo()

The compareTo(Character argChar) method compares given character with argumented character.

**Syntax:

public int compareTo(Character argChar)

**Parameters: argChar: character to be compared with.

**Return Values:

**= 0: if both characters are equal
**> 0: if given this character is greater
****< 0:** if argumented character is greater

**Examples Using codePointBefore() , codePointCount() , and compareTo() Methods:

JAVA `

// Java program explaining Character class methods // codePointBefore(), codePointCount(), compareTo() import java.lang.Character;

public class Geeks { public static void main(String[] args) { // Use of codePointBefore() char[] arg = new char[] { 'g', 'e', 'e', 'k', 's' }; int position = 4;

    int val = Character.codePointBefore(arg, position);
    int val1 = Character.codePointBefore(arg, 1);
    int val2 = Character.codePointBefore(arg, 3, 1);

    System.out.println( "Unicode code point before "
                             + position + " : " + val );
    System.out.println( "Unicode code point before 1 : "
                                               + val1 );
    System.out.println( "Unicode code point before 3"
                                   +" to 1 : " + val2);
    System.out.println();

    // Use of codePointCount()
    int count = Character.codePointCount(arg, 1,3 );

    System.out.println("No. of Unicode points : " + count);
    System.out.println();

    // Use of compareTo()
    Character g1 = new Character('g');
    Character g2 = new Character('o');

    int check = g1.compareTo(g2);
    System.out.println("g1 < g2 : " + check);
  
    int check1 = g2.compareTo(g1);
    System.out.println("g2 > g1 : " + check1);
    
      int check2 = g2.compareTo(g2);
    System.out.println("g2 = g2 : " + check2);
}

}

Output

Unicode code point before 4 : 107 Unicode code point before 1 : 103 Unicode code point before 3 to 1 : 101

No. of Unicode points : 3

g1 < g2 : -8 g2 > g1 : 8 g2 = g2 : 0

**7. equals()

The equals() method compares the present char object with the argumented char object.

**Syntax:

public boolean equals(Object charObj)

**Parameter: charObj: char object to compare with.
**Returns: true if both the objects are equal, else false.

**8. getNumericValue()

The getNumericValue(char arg) method returns int value for the specific Unicode character. A – Z value ranges u0041 to u005A a -z value ranges u0061 to u007A

**Syntax:

public static int getNumericValue(char arg)

**Parameters: arg: The char whose numeric value is to be retrieved.
**Return Value: The integer value of the specified Unicode character. If the character does not have a numeric value, -1 is returned.

**9. getType()

The getType(char arg) method identifies the general type of character A – Z value ranges u0041 to u005A a -z value ranges u0061 to u007A.

**Syntax:

public static int getType(char arg)

**Parameter: arg: The char whose type category is to be identified.
**Return Value: An integer value representing the character’s general type.

**Example: Using equals(), getNumericValue(), and getType() Methods:

JAVA `

// Java program explaining Character class methods // equals(), getNumericValue(), getType() import java.lang.Character;

public class Geeks { public static void main(String[] args) { // Use of equals() method Character g1 = new Character('g'); Character g2 = new Character('O');

    boolean check = g1.equals(g2);
    boolean check1 = g1.equals(g1);
  
    System.out.println("Are g and o equal?: " + check);
    System.out.println("Are g and g equal?: " + check1);
    System.out.println();

    // Use of getNumericValue() method
    int c = Character.getNumericValue(g1);
    int c1 = Character.getNumericValue(g2);
  
    System.out.println("Int value for g: " + c);
    System.out.println("Int value for A: " + c1);
    System.out.println();

    // Use of getType() method
    Character g3 = new Character('$');
    Character g4 = new Character('6');

    int r1 = Character.getType(g1);
    int r2 = Character.getType(g2);
    int r3 = Character.getType(g3);
    int r4 = Character.getType(g4);

    System.out.println("Type for lowercase: " + r1);
    System.out.println("Type for uppercase: " + r2);
    System.out.println("Type for currency: " + r3);
    System.out.println("Type for numeric: " + r4);
}

}

Output

Are g and o equal?: false Are g and g equal?: true

Int value for g: 16 Int value for A: 24

Type for lowercase: 2 Type for uppercase: 1 Type for currency: 26 Type for numeric: 9