Why is char[] preferred over String for passwords?

Question

In Swing, the password field has a getPassword() (returns char[]) method instead of the usual getText() (returns String)

Answer 1

Strings are immutable and cannot be altered once they have been created. Creating a password as a string will leave stray references to the password on the heap or on the String pool. Now if someone takes a heap dump of the Java process and carefully scans through he might be able to guess the passwords. Of course these non used strings will be garbage collected but that depends on when the GC kicks in.

On the other side char[] are mutable as soon as the authentication is done you can overwrite them with any character like all M's or backslashes. Now even if someone takes a heap dump he might not be able to get the passwords which are not currently in use. This gives you more control in the sense like clearing the Object content yourself vs waiting for the GC to do it.