String is immutable. What exactly is the meaning? [duplicate]

by

I wrote the following code on immutable Strings.

public class ImmutableStrings {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        testmethod();
    }

    private static void testmethod() {
        String a = "a";
        System.out.println("a 1-->" + a);
        a = "ty";
        System.out.println("a 2-->" + a);
    }
}

Output:

a 1-->a  
a 2-->ty

Here the value of variable a has been changed (while many say that contents of the immutable objects cannot be changed). But what exactly does one mean by saying String is immutable? Could you please clarify this topic for me?

source : https://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/java/nutsandbolts/datatypes.html

19 Answers
19

Leave a Comment