Why StringTokenizer Discouraged nowadays ?

[Seetharaman Venkatasamy]

Hi Folks,

String split is taken advantage over StringTokenizer . please anyone can explain me the reason?

[naresh voota]

String Tokenizer does not accept(correction) regular expressions but split does. I believe that is why it is not encouraged these days.

[Seetharaman Venkatasamy]

well, but still you can manage with delimiter . i guess some other reason would be there

[Sultan Khadar]

Hi Venkatasamy,

If you want to tokenize a String Object then go for split instead of StringTokenizer
If the data is outside from your program (From a File or from a DataSource) and if you want to parse it then prefer Scanner

Hope this will clarify your doubt.

Regards,
Sultan

[Hunter McMillen]

What if you don't need a regex to match what you're doing? What if it's just Strings separated by commas like so:

MARY, JIM, JOHN, ZACH

Is string split still easier to use than StringTokenizer for this ???

Hunter.

[Garrett Rowe]

Easier to use is a matter of opinion, not fact. Do either of these look easier to use or understand than the other?

String[] tokens = "MARY, JIM, JOHN, ZACH".split(",");
for (String s : tokens) {
   process(s);
}

StringTokenizer st = new StringTokenizer("MARY, JIM, JOHN, ZACH", ",");
while (st.hasNoreTokens()) {
   process(st.nextToken());
}

[naresh voota]

StringTokenizer is faster than String.split() but does not offer functionality like splitting basing on regex expression. But when you look at real world applications, the speed offered by StringTokenizer compared to String.split does not matter much. Sun is keeping StringTokenizer as it is used in legacy applications and for backward compatibility. Hence the advice to switch to String.split for newer code. While the case of String and Scanner is different. It is more of a case of different horses for different courses.

[Jeanne Boyarsky]

More reasons:
1) What if your requirement changes from comma to comma with optional whitespace? It's much easier to change the code using split.
2) split is an idiom that reads more naturally
3) It's harder to misuse split. I've seen a delimiter of ", ". Upon first read, many people think this means matching a comma followed by a space. It doesn't of course, which wastes time in troubleshooting.

[Seetharaman Venkatasamy]

Thanks Folks for your earnest reply