Why does the toString method in java not seem to work for an array

java tostring arrays
sidharth sharma picture sidharth sharma · Aug 15, 2011 · Viewed 33.7k times · Source

I want to convert a character array to a string object using the toString() method in java. Here is a snippet of the test code I used:

import java.util.Arrays;
class toString{
    public static void main(String[] args){
        char[] Array = {'a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e', 'f'};
        System.out.println(Array.toString());
        }
}

In principle, it should print abcdef, but it is printing random gibberish of the likes of [C@6e1408 or [C@e53108 each time the program executes. I don't need an alternative out of this but want to know why this is happening.

Answer

Bohemian picture Bohemian · Aug 15, 2011

To get a human-readable toString(), you must use Arrays.toString(), like this:

System.out.println(Arrays.toString(Array));

Java's toString() for an array is to print [, followed by a character representing the type of the array's elements (in your case C for char), followed by @ then the "identity hash code" of the array (think of it like you would a "memory address").

This sad state of affairs is generally considered as a "mistake" with java.

See this answer for a list of other "mistakes".

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