Immutability of Strings in Java

Question

Consider the following example.

String str = new String();

str  = \"Hello\";
System.out.println(str);  //Prints Hello

str = \"Help!\";
System.out.println(s         


        

Answer 1

For those wondering how to break String immutability in Java...

Code

import java.lang.reflect.Field;

public class StringImmutability {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        String str1 = "I am immutable";
        String str2 = str1;

        try {
            Class str1Class = str1.getClass();
            Field str1Field = str1Class.getDeclaredField("value");

            str1Field.setAccessible(true);
            char[] valueChars = (char[]) str1Field.get(str1);

            valueChars[5] = ' ';
            valueChars[6] = ' ';

            System.out.println(str1 == str2);
            System.out.println(str1);
            System.out.println(str2);           
        } catch (NoSuchFieldException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        } catch (SecurityException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        } catch (IllegalArgumentException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        } catch (IllegalAccessException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }

    }
}

Output

true
I am   mutable
I am   mutable