Java Character Declaration Format

[sur manickam]

When we declare and store a character in Java, in which format the character is stored internally ascii or unicode or utf8?

[Rob Spoor]

A char is stored in two bytes, and stores the unicode value. You can confirm this with the following code:

char c = 'a';
int i = c;
System.out.println(Integer.toHexString(i));
c = '\u1234';
i = c;
System.out.println(Integer.toHexString(i));

Output:
61
1234

[sur manickam]

Thank you Rob

[Campbell Ritchie]

As Rob has told you, it is a 16-bit unsigned integer (whole number).

[sur manickam]

Out of 16 bits, how many bits are needed to store one character ?

[Jesper de Jong]

16 bits.

[Rob Spoor]

Not necessarily. Only 8 are needed for ASCII characters. However, all 16 are reserved for all characters, regardless of how many are needed.

[sur manickam]

Thank you Rob. I also agree with you. Out of 16 bits 8 bits are needed for ascii. So in the remaining 8 bits, is it possible to add some other 8 bits? If so, how to do it?

[Darryl Burke]

Hmm...
http://forums.sun.com/thread.jspa?threadID=5357602

[Rob Spoor]

The other 8 bits are 0, and if you want it to be the same character you should keep them 0.

If you want to merge two ASCII characters into one char variable that will create a completely different character. In other words, don't do that.