String.valueOf() vs. Object.toString()

In Java, is there any difference between String.valueOf(Object) and Object.toString()?

Yes. (And more so if you consider overloading!)

As the javadoc explains, String.valueOf((Object) null) will be treated as a special case by the valueOf method and the value "null" is returned. By contrast, null.toString() will just give you an NPE.

Overloading

It turns out that String.valueOf(null) (note the difference!) does give an NPE ... despite the javadoc. The real explanation1 is obscure:

  1. There are a number of overloads of String.valueOf, but there are two that are relevant here: String.valueOf(Object) and String.valueOf(char[]).

  2. In the expression String.valueOf(null), both of those overloads are applicable, since null is assignment compatible with any reference type.

  3. When there are two or more applicable overloads, the JLS says that the overload for the most specific argument type is chosen.

  4. Since char[] is a subtype of Object, it is more specific.

  5. Therefore the String.valueOf(char[]) overload is called.

  6. String.valueOf(char[]) throws an NPE if its argument is a null array. Unlike String.valueOf(Object), it doesn't treat null as a special case.

Another example illustrates the difference in the valueOf(char[]) overload even more clearly:

char[] abc = new char[]('a', 'b', 'c');
System.out.println(String.valueOf(abc));  // prints "abc"
System.out.println(abc.toString());       // prints "[C@...."

Is there a specific code convention for these?

No.

Use which ever is most appropriate to the requirements of the context in which you are using it. (Do you need the formatting to work for null?)

Note: that isn't a code convention. It is just common sense programming. It is more important that your code is correct than it is to follow some stylistic convention or "best practice" dogma2.

1 - You can confirm this by using javap -c to examine the code of a method that has a String.valueOf(null) call. Observe the overload that is used for the call.

2 - Please read "No Best Practices", and pass this reference on to the next person who tells you that it is "best practice" to do something in the programming or IT domains.

Personal opinion

Some developers acquire the (IMO) bad habit of "defending" against nulls. So you see lots of tests for nulls, and treating nulls as special cases. The idea seems to be prevent NPE from happening.

I think this is a bad idea. In particular, I think it is a bad idea if what you do when you find a null is to try to "make good" ... without consideration of why there was a null there.

In general, it is better to avoid the null being there in the first place ... unless the null has a very specific meaning in your application or API design. So, rather than avoiding the NPE with lots of defensive coding, it is better to let the NPE happen, and then track down and fix the source of the unexpected null that triggered the NPE.

So how does this apply here?

Well, if you think about it, using String.valueOf(obj) could be a way of "making good". That is to be avoided. If it is unexpected for obj to be null in the context, it is better to use obj.toString().


According to the Java documentation, String.valueOf() returns:

if the argument is null, then a string equal to "null"; otherwise, the value of obj.toString() is returned.

So there shouldn't really be a difference except for an additional method invocation.

Also, in the case of Object#toString, if the instance is null, a NullPointerException will be thrown, so arguably, it's less safe.

public static void main(String args[]) {  
    String str = null;
    System.out.println(String.valueOf(str));  // This will print a String equal to "null"        
    System.out.println(str.toString()); // This will throw a NullPointerException
}

Differences between String.valueOf(Object) and Object.toString() are:

1) If string is null,

String.valueOf(Object) will return "null", whereas Object::toString() will throw a null pointer exception.

public static void main(String args[]){  
    String str = null;
    
    System.out.println(String.valueOf(str));  // it will print null        
    System.out.println(str.toString()); // it will throw NullPointerException        
}

2) Signature:

valueOf() method of String class is static. whereas toString() method of String class is non static.

The signature or syntax of string's valueOf() method is given below:

public static String valueOf(boolean b)  
public static String valueOf(char c)  
public static String valueOf(char[] c)  
public static String valueOf(int i)  
public static String valueOf(long l)  
public static String valueOf(float f)  
public static String valueOf(double d)  
public static String valueOf(Object o)

The signature or syntax of string's toString() method is given below:

public String toString()

Most has already been mentioned by other answers, but I just add it for completeness:

  1. Primitives don't have a .toString() as they are not an implementation of the Object-class, so only String.valueOf can be used.
  2. String.valueOf will transform a given object that is null to the String "null", whereas .toString() will throw a NullPointerException.
  3. The compiler will use String.valueOf by default when something like String s = "" + (...); is used. Which is why Object t = null; String s = "" + t; will result in the String "null", and not in a NPE. EDIT: Actually, it will use the StringBuilder.append, not String.valueOf. So ignore what I said here.

In addition to those, here is actually a use case where String.valueOf and .toString() have different results:

Let's say we have a generic method like this:

public static <T> T test(){
  String str = "test";
  return (T) str;
}

And we'll call it with an Integer type like this: Main.<Integer>test().

When we create a String with String.valueOf it works fine:

String s1 = String.valueOf(Main.<Integer>test());
System.out.println(s1);

This will output test to STDOUT.

With a .toString() however, it won't work:

String s2 = (Main.<Integer>test()).toString();
System.out.println(s2);

This will result in the following error:

java.lang.ClassCastException: class java.lang.String cannot be cast to class java.lang.Integer

Try it online.

As for why, I can refer to this separated question and its answers. In short however:

  • When using .toString() it will first compile and evaluate the object, where the cast to T (which is an String to Integer cast in this case) will result in the ClassCastException.
  • When using String.valueOf it will see the generic T as Object during compilation and doesn't even care about it being an Integer. So it will cast an Object to Object (which the compiler just ignores). Then it will use String.valueOf(Object), resulting in a String as expected. So even though the String.valueOf(Object) will do a .toString() on the parameter internally, we've already skipped the cast and its treated like an Object, so we've avoided the ClassCastException that occurs with the usage of .toString().

Just thought it was worth mentioning this additional difference between String.valueOf and .toString() here as well.

Tags:

Java

String

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