Converting from CharSequence to String in Java

Question

Suppose I want to convert a CharSequence to a String in Java.

Which option (1 or 2) is better and why?

CharSequence source = "some text";
String someText1 = (String)source; // 1
String someText2 = source.toString(); // 2

score 9 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 10 '16 at 01:57

9

The best option is behind Door #3:

String someText = String.valueOf(source);

Because that will handle the case where source is null.

answered Feb 10 '16 at 01:57

user949300

1

Just a note, it will "handle" that case by setting the value of `someText` to the string `"null"` - which I personally don't think is very elegant, but at least it's easy to check for (as long as you aren't expecting the CharSequence to have the literal value of `"null"`, which I hope you aren't) – rook218 Jul 16 '21 at 13:35

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 10 '16 at 01:17

2

#1 doesn't even work for CharSequence implementations other than String, so #2 is really your only option.

answered Feb 10 '16 at 01:17

Louis Wasserman

1

Not your only option - `String.value of()` is available and superior. – user949300 Feb 10 '16 at 02:16
Eh, the only difference is that it behaves differently on null, which may or may not be desirable. I would prefer to throw on null as toString would do. – Louis Wasserman Feb 10 '16 at 02:17

2 Answers2