How to Convert String to Array in Java

Sometimes we have to split String to array based on delimiters or some regular expression. For example, reading a CSV file line and parsing them to get all the data to a String array. In this tutorial, we will learn how to convert String to Array in Java program.

String to Array in Java

String class split(String regex) can be used to convert String to array in java. If you are working with java regular expression, you can also use Pattern class split(String regex) method. Let’s see how to convert String to an array with a simple java class example.

package com.journaldev.util;

import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.regex.Pattern;

public class StringToArrayExample {

    /**
     * This class shows how to convert String to String Array in Java
     * @param args
     */
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        String line = "My name is Pankaj";
        //using String split function
        String[] words = line.split(" ");
        System.out.println(Arrays.toString(words));
        //using java.util.regex Pattern
        Pattern pattern = Pattern.compile(" ");
        words = pattern.split(line);
        System.out.println(Arrays.toString(words));
    }
}

The output of the above program is:

[My, name, is, Pankaj]
[My, name, is, Pankaj]

Note that Java provides a legacy class StringTokenizer also but you should not use it because it doesn’t have an option for a regular expression and using it is confusing. We can use Java regular expressions also to split String into String array in java, learn more about java regular expression.