String

Substring Java Example

In this post, we feature a comprehensive Substring Java Example. We will show how to use Java String substring() API method.

1. Syntax

substring() method can be expressed in two ways:

  • String substring(int start, int end)
  • String substring(int start)

2. Parameters

  • start

This parameter is mandatory and it specifies the starting position of the extracted string. Note that first character of string is at index 0 not 1.

  • end

This parameter is optional and it specifies the end position of the extraction. Note that the index of end position is not included in the extraction.
If end parameter is missing, then the extraction starts from the starting position to the rest of the string.

You can also check the Java String Class Example in the following video:

Java String Class Example – Video

3. Return value

The return value of substring() method is the extracted string.

4. Substring Java Example

Create a java class named SubstringExample.java with the following code:

SubstringExample.java

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public class SubstringExample {
 
    public static void main(String args[]) {
        String str = new String("Javacodegeeks");
         
        System.out.println("Initial string is: " + str);
 
        System.out.println("Start position=4 and no end position specified: "
                + str.substring(4));
 
        System.out.println("Start position=2 and end position=11: "
                + str.substring(2, 11));
 
        // if start = end, then the extracted string will be empty
        System.out.println("Start position=3 and end position=3: "
                + str.substring(3, 3).isEmpty());
 
        // In the following cases we will get
        // java.lang.StringIndexOutOfBoundException
 
        // if (start < 0 or end < 0)
        System.out.println("Start position=-2 and end position=5: "
                + str.substring(-2, 5));
 
        // if (start > end)
        System.out.println("Start position=5 and end position=2: "
                + str.substring(5, 2));
    }
 
}

Output

Initial string is: Javacodegeeks
Start position=4 and no end position specified: codegeeks
Start position=2 and end position=11: vacodegee
Start position=3 and end position=3: true
Exception in thread "main" java.lang.StringIndexOutOfBoundsException: String index out of range: -2
	at java.lang.String.substring(Unknown Source)
	at SubstringExample.main(SubstringExample.java:22)

As we see in the output, the substring() method usage is exactly what we described in the previous sections. In the first case, end parameter is omitted, so the extracted string starts from position 2 till the rest of the string.
In the second case, both parameters are defined.

In the third case, we can see that if start position is equal to the end position, then the extracted string is empty.
In the last two cases, we can see that if one of the parameters is less than 0 or start position is greater than end position, then we will have StringIndexOutOfBoundsException.

5. Download the source code

This was an example of Substring Java method.

Download
Download the source code of this example: Substring Java Example

Last updated on Jan. 09, 2020

Konstantina Dimtsa

Konstantina has graduated from the Department of Informatics and Telecommunications in National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA) and she is currently pursuing M.Sc studies in Advanced Information Systems at the same department. She is also working as a research associate for NKUA in the field of telecommunications. Her main interests lie in software engineering, web applications, databases and telecommunications.
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