How can you say String is immutable since you can change it?

Question

Since String is Immutable How can we will change String for Example

String s1="Hello";
  String s2="Manas";

Now I am making

s1=s1+s3;

It will Print "Hello Manas". So String s1 will change.

So how can u say that String is immutable?

[Possible duplicate](http://stackoverflow.com/q/1552301/1883647). Did you mean `s1=s1+s2;`? — ajp15243, Feb 20 '14 at 14:31
A String is immutable. `s1` and `s2` are not String objects, they are *references* to String objects and these references can be changed. — Peter Lawrey, Feb 20 '14 at 14:38
Immutable means By default final So how can u change the final variable or references. — manu198, Feb 20 '14 at 14:42

score 6 · Answer 1 · answered Feb 20 '14 at 14:30

6

You're not changing the contents of "Hello", you're changing the value of the variable s1 to refer to a different string object entirely.

Immutability has nothing to do with changing the value of the variable - if you want to prevent that, you can make the variable in question final.

answered Feb 20 '14 at 14:30

Michael Berry

1

You're not changing the value of the reference - you're changing the value of the *variable* to be a different reference. (Just like `int x = 0; x = 5;` doesn't change what 0 means, it changes the value of `x` to 5.) – Jon Skeet Feb 20 '14 at 14:32
@JonSkeet Ah sorry, bad wording on my part. Fixed now. – Michael Berry Feb 20 '14 at 14:33
It not like (int x = 0; x = 5) it's like (final int x = 0; x=5;) So how can u change final variable. – manu198 Feb 20 '14 at 14:46

1 Answers1