Change an array to a string without creating a string

Question

I wish to accomplish:

    String []beef = new String[3];
    beef[0] = "Water";
    beef[1] = "Chicken";
    beef[2] = "Paper";

    String empo = Arrays.toString(beef);

    if (empo.isEmpty()){
        empo = "Nothing";
        System.out.println(empo);
    }else{
        System.out.println(empo);
    }

without having to create the string.

Something like:

    String []beef = new String[3];
    beef[0] = "Water";
    beef[1] = "Chicken";
    beef[2] = "Paper";

    Arrays.toString(beef);  //change beef to just a plain string

    if(beef.isEmpty()||beef==""){
    no = "Nothing";

    System.out.println(beef);

How would one go about doing this?

You could use a for loop to print each letter in the array in the order it needs to be in. — Adam
– Adam, Commented Mar 20, 2013 at 23:09
Yea? However, what does that have to do with changing the array type, as per the main intent of my question. — House3272
– House3272, Commented Mar 20, 2013 at 23:21

tckmn · Accepted Answer · 2013-03-20 23:08:25Z

8

You can't.

Java is a strongly and statically typed language. That means you have to tell it what type a thing will be when you declare it (strong typing), and you can't ever change it's type after that (static typing).

You will just have to create a new String.

answered Mar 20, 2013 at 23:08

tckmn

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4 Comments

House3272 Over a year ago

So, more broadly, can you convert any data type to another without declaring a new variable?

tckmn Over a year ago

@House no. Java is statically typed.

House3272 Over a year ago

Is there an example of an un-statically typed programming language or something?

tckmn Over a year ago

@House Javascript (and it's called "dynamically-typed")

j__m · Accepted Answer · 2013-03-20 23:09:27Z

1

You can create substrings with the same backing memory as the original string, but you can't create a string with the same backing memory as an array of strings. They're not stored in the same order so it's impossible to view the same memory both ways.

answered Mar 20, 2013 at 23:09

j__m

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10 Comments

tckmn Over a year ago

No you can't. Strings are immutable.

j__m Over a year ago

Strings being immutable has nothing to do with it. The documentation for String.substring clearly states "The returned string shares this string's backing array."

tckmn Over a year ago

But it creates a new String. You can't manipulate a String without making a new one.

j__m Over a year ago

The array doesn't go away until it's garbage-collected, and an array of strings and a string aren't stored in the same order in memory, so there's no way to reuse that memory.

House3272 Over a year ago

Yea...way over my head. I'm just a bit ocd when it comes to java and thus I really like to keep things clean and efficient. By using the least amount of "typage" to do the job, without compromising anything of course. Guess in this case, it was over-optimization haha.

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