String, StringBuffer, and StringBuilder

JavaUser picture JavaUser · Jun 4, 2010 · Viewed 170.4k times · Source

Please tell me a real time situation to compare String, StringBuffer, and StringBuilder?

Answer

bakkal picture bakkal · Jun 4, 2010

Mutability Difference:

String is immutable, if you try to alter their values, another object gets created, whereas StringBuffer and StringBuilder are mutable so they can change their values.

Thread-Safety Difference:

The difference between StringBuffer and StringBuilder is that StringBuffer is thread-safe. So when the application needs to be run only in a single thread then it is better to use StringBuilder. StringBuilder is more efficient than StringBuffer.

Situations:

  • If your string is not going to change use a String class because a String object is immutable.
  • If your string can change (example: lots of logic and operations in the construction of the string) and will only be accessed from a single thread, using a StringBuilder is good enough.
  • If your string can change, and will be accessed from multiple threads, use a StringBuffer because StringBuffer is synchronous so you have thread-safety.