How many string objects created??

String s = new String("abc");

How many string objects exists after this line of code executed?

Two? One String object on the heap and one in String constant pool?

Or just one?

Really confused here.... Pls help...

Two strings. To keep things simple, count string literals once only and count each occurrence of "new String".

In your example: one for "abc" and one for new String("abc"), that gives two strings.

Originally posted by Barry Gaunt:
count string literals once...

Is it "count string literals once" or "count string literals once for each class" ?
In other words, does the same string literal occuring in two different class files end up at the same place in the string pool?
(Or is it completely implementation dependent?)

I guess Barry Gaunt's answer only applies for SCJP exam...

one reference(s)
two objects one for "abc" and one for new String("abc")

Originally posted by Jon Lee:
I guess Barry Gaunt's answer only applies for SCJP exam...

Yes, that's why I said "to keep things simple" meaning for the examples you will see in the SCJP exam.

In real situations you have to consider the possible used of the intern() method, and the possibility of using different class loaders.

Originally posted by Neelesh Bodas:

Is it "count string literals once" or "count string literals once for each class" ?
In other words, does the same string literal occuring in two different class files end up at the same place in the string pool?
(Or is it completely implementation dependent?)

I just tried an example with static string literals in two different classes in two different packages and the two strings compared with "==" as true.
So it seems plausable (but not proved).

Yes, it also works with non-static literals in different classes in different packages. So it still seems plausible(but not proved).

If you mention class loaders I will move this thread to Java In General (Advanced)

[ July 26, 2006: Message edited by: Barry Gaunt ]