StringBuilder

The StringBuilder class in Java represents a String-like character sequence that is mutable, whereas objects of the String class are immutable. This provides an alternative to the String class when it’s a requirement to change a character sequence once it is defined.

It is similar to another class, StringBuffer, but it is faster in most circumstances. The difference between StringBuilder and StringBuffer is that StringBuilder is not thread-safe. StringBuilder offers no guarantee of synchronization and should not be used across multiple threads.

Syntax

StringBuilder s1 = new StringBuilder();

StringBuilder s2 = new StringBuilder(capacity);

StringBuilder s3 = new StringBuilder(sequence);

A StringBuilder can be created in the following ways:

• Calling the constructor with no arguments creates a StringBuilder with no contents and a capacity of 16 characters.
• Calling the constructor with the int argument, capacity, creates a StringBuilder with no contents and a capacity of capacity characters.
• Calling the constructor with a sequence argument that is either a String or a CharSequence creates a StringBuilder with contents and capacity equal to the specified String or CharSequence.

Example

The following example creates a StringBuilder with a specified String and then changes it by appending another String:

import java.util.*;

public class Example {
  public static void main(String[] args)
  {
    StringBuilder str = new StringBuilder("Hello");
    System.out.println(str.toString());
    str.append(" World!");
    System.out.println(str.toString());
  }
}

This produces the following output:

Hello
Hello World!

Below is a list of methods used by the StringBuilder class: