The Empty String

There is a special String which contains no characters at all.

void main() {
// There is nothing to say.
String conversationWithDog = "";
}

You write it just like any other string, just with nothing between the double quotes.

""

It is different from a String that just contains spaces because to Java those "space characters" are just as much real characters as a, b, or c.

void main() {
// There is noteworthy silence.
String conversationWithInlaws = " ";
}

This is one of those things that feels totally useless, but comes in handy pretty often.

  • Say you are writing a message to send to your friend. The messenger app can represent the state of the input box before you type anything with an empty String.
  • If you want to digitally record responses to legal paperwork, you might choose to represent skipped fields as empty Strings.
  • Video Games where characters have assigned names can assign an empty String as the name of otherwise "unnamed" characters.
  • etc.