(String) Meaning in Java

Question

Decided to edit this question.

(String) refers to casting.

Ex:

protected String methodA(Vector X) {
    return (String) X.get(0);
}

In this case the get method returns an object, and for the methodA to return a String there needs to be a cast to String. And the cast is done as demonstrated.

If I knew it was a cast I would have searched right away... All I could search for was (String) and that led me nowhere. — Hugo Silva, Apr 19 '16 at 14:10

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 19 '16 at 14:06

0

To my understanding, the (String) is a cast to string. Without being into the details, I suppose that the return type of get is Object, even if the contents are of String type. The cast is necessary to match the return type of method.

answered Apr 19 '16 at 14:06

Codor

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score 0 · Answer 2 · edited Apr 19 '16 at 14:09

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This method returns first element in the Vector cast to String.

edited Apr 19 '16 at 14:09

fabian

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answered Apr 19 '16 at 14:07

Ivan Zelenskyy

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score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Apr 19 '16 at 14:18

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If X.get(0) returns an Object but the underlying is String then another way besides (String) X.get(0) is to use X.get(0).toString(). That might be more familiar.

answered Apr 19 '16 at 14:18

stefana

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(String) Meaning in Java

3 Answers3