Incrementing Char Type In Java
This is the equivalent program of your program:
public class Tester {
public static void main(String args[]){
char start='\u0041';
char next='\u0041'+1;
System.out.println(next);
}
}
But as you see, next=start+1
, will not work. That's the way java handles.
The reason could be that we may accidentally use start
, with integer 1
thinking that start
is an int
variables and use that expression. Since, java is so strict about minimizing logical errors. They designed it that way I think.
But, when you do, char next='\u0041'+1;
it's clear that '\u0041'
is a character and 1
will be implicitly converted into a 2 byte. This no mistake could be done by a programmer. May be that's the reason they have allowed it.
char
is 2 bytes in java. char
supports unicode
characters. When you add or subtract a char var with an offset integer, the equivalent unicode
character in the unicode table will result. Since, B
is next to A
, you got B
.
In Java, char
is a numeric type. When you add 1
to a char
, you get to the next unicode code point. In case of 'A'
, the next code point is 'B'
:
char x='A';
x+=1;
System.out.println(x);
Note that you cannot use x=x+1
because it causes an implicit narrowing conversion. You need to use either x++
or x+=1
instead.
A char
is in fact mapped to an int
, look at the Ascii Table.
For example: a capital A corresponds to the decimal number 65. When you are adding 1 to that char
, you basicly increment the decimal number by 1. So the number becomes 66, which corresponds to the capital B.