Java String charAt() Method

Last Updated : 23 Dec, 2024

String charAt() method in Java returns the character at the specified index in a string. The Index of the first character in a string is 0, the second character is 1, and so on. The index value should lie between 0 and length() - 1.

If the index value is greater than or equal to the string length or negative number it returns stringIndexOutOfBoundsException

Example 1:

Java

class Geeks {
    public static void main(String args[]) {
      	
        // Define a string
        String s = "Java String charAt() example";

        // Retrieve and print the character at index 8
        char ch = s.charAt(8);
        System.out.println(ch);

        // Retrieve and print the character at index 24
        ch = s.charAt(24);
        System.out.println(ch);
    }
}

Output

i
m

Syntax of charAt() Method

public char charAt(int index)

Parameter: index - Index of the character to be returned.
Returns: Returns the character at the specified position.
Exceptions : StringIndexOutOfBoundsException - If the index is negative or greater than the length of the String.

Example 2: The following program demonstrating the Exception case as StringIndexOutOfBoundsException.

Java

class Geeks {
    // main function
    public static void main(String args[])
    {
        String s = "abc";

        char ch = s.charAt(4);
        System.out.println(ch);
    }
}

Output

Exception in thread "main" java.lang.StringIndexOutOfBoundsException: String index out of range: 4
    at java.lang.String.charAt(String.java:658)
    at Gfg.main(File.java:9)

Example 3: Accessing the First and Last Character

Java

import java.io.*;

class Geeks {
    // main function
    public static void main(String[] args)
    {
        String str = "GeeksforGeeks";
        int len = str.length();

        // First Element
        System.out.println("First Element: "+ str.charAt(0));

        // Last Element
        System.out.println("First Element: "+ str.charAt(len - 1));
    }
}

Output

First Element: G
First Element: s

Example 4: Print Characters Presented at Odd Positions and Even Positions

Java

import java.io.*;

class Geeks {
 
    public static void main(String[] args)
    {
        String str = "GeeksforGeeks";

        // Odd Positions
        System.out.println("Odd Positions");
        for (int i = 0; i < str.length(); i += 2) {
            System.out.print(str.charAt(i));
        }

        System.out.println("\n");

        // Even Positions
        System.out.println("Even Positions");
        for (int i = 1; i < str.length(); i += 2) {
            System.out.print(str.charAt(i));
        }
    }
}

Output

Odd Positions
GesoGes

Even Positions
ekfrek

Example 5: Counting Frequency of a Character in a String

Java

import java.io.*;

class Geeks {

    public static void main(String[] args)
    {
        String str = "GeeksforGeeks";
        int count = 0;

        for (int i = 0; i < str.length(); i++) {
          
            // Counting e in string
            if (str.charAt(i) == 'e')
                count++;
        }

        // printing occurrence
        System.out.println("Count the occurrence of e : "+ count);
    }
}

Output

Count the occurrence of e : 4

Java String charAt() Method

Niraj_Pandey

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Java String charAt() Method

Syntax of charAt() Method

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