Strings, StringBuffers, StringBuilders, Numbers, and BigNumbers - Java for COBOL Programmers - page 201

Method Description COBOL Equivalent

setLength (int length) Set the length of StringBuffer to Items are always fixed length,

length. Any new character positions defined at compile time.

will be set to null.

String subString Return a String with all the MOVE STRING1 (POS:LEN) TO

(int offset) characters in stringBuffer starting STRING2

at offset.

String subString Return a String with all the MOVE STRING1 (POS:LEN) TO

(int offset, int length) characters in StringBuffer starting STRING2

at offset for the number of chars
in length.

String toString Return a String with all of the MOVE STRING1 TO STRING2

characters in StringBuffer.*

* A new String is not created at first. Instead, the new String simply points to the same place in memory where
the text for StringBuffer is stored. If and when StringBuffer is eventually changed, StringBuffer will al-
locate a new place in memory to hold the text.

Here are examples of how StringBuffer s might be used:

// Build an array of Strings.
// This array will contain 6 String objects.
String[] inputWords = {"These", "are", "words", "in", "a", "sentence"};
// Build a sentence.
String sentence = makeSentence (inputWords);
System.out.println (sentence);

public String makeSentence(String[]sentenceWords) {
StringBuffer sent = new StringBuffer();
for (int i = 0; i < sentenceWords.length; i++) {
// Build up the sentence. Place each word in the StringBuffer followed by a
// space.
// The StringBuffer will be automatically resized for each append.
sent.append(sentenceWords[i]);
sent.append(" ");

}
// Return the sentence (as a String).
return (sent.toString());

}