Unlike a
String which, in Java, is an actual object with a full blown class, a char is a primitive datatype and represents a single character. While a
String could have a single
character, two characters or more, a char is limited to a single character. You use single quotes to designate a char as in the example below.
Examples of properly declared and initialized chars.
- char myChar = 'a';
- char myChar2 = '@';
- char myChar3 ='1';
Examples of improper chars.
- char myBadChar = "a"; You can't use double quotes(" ") with chars. In Java, only use double quotes with Strings .
- char myOtherBadChar ='ab'; A char can store only 1 character, not two.