How to Represent Empty char in Java

“char” is a primitive data type belonging to the Character class used to declare char type variables represented by the char Java keyword. Java allows you to use an empty char[] array, but not an empty char; as a char must represent at least one character, the null or an empty char makes no sense.

This tutorial will show you how to represent an empty string in Java. So, let’s start!

How to Represent Empty char in Java?

To represent an empty char in Java, use the following methods:

Empty single quotes
Null character (\0)
Unicode value (\u0000)
MIN_VALUE Constant

Let’s understand how these methods help in the specified purpose.

Method 1: Represent Empty char in Java Using Empty Single Quotes

When we come across such scenarios where it is required to declare an empty “char”, the first thing that comes to mind is to assign single quotes (”) as a “char”. A compile-time error is generated by Java as a result of this method because an empty value of char does not belong to any character.

Example 1
We will assign a single quote (”) to a character type variable named “ch”:

char ch = '';

It will show an error “invalid character constant”:

For solving the above problem, we will enter a space between single quotes (‘ ‘) as a character. The space will act as a character, and Java will consider it as a null or empty char:

char ch = ' ';

We will print the value of the char variable “ch” using print statement:

System.out.println("char 'ch' is: "+ ch);

The output signifies that the char variable “ch” is empty:

Method 2: Represent Empty char in Java Using Null Character

You can also represent a char as an empty character using a “Null Character” (\0), where the character “\0” denotes a null value.

Let’s see an example of how \0 acts as an empty character.

Example
Here, we will assign a null character to a char variable “ch”:

char ch = '\0';

Then, print the out the character value with the help of the “System.out.println()” method:

System.out.println("char 'ch' is: "+ ch);

The output shows that the char “ch” is empty:

Method 3: Represent Empty char in Java Using Unicode Value (\u0000)

Another method to represent an empty char is utilizing the Unicode value “\u0000”. The given Unicode represents a null value.

Let’s move towards an example for better understanding.

Example
In this example, we will allocate a Unicode value “\u0000” to a “ch” variable:

char ch = '\u0000';

Then, we will print the created empty char on the console:

System.out.println("char 'ch' is: "+ ch);

The output indicates that char is null:

Method 4: Represent Empty char in Java Using MIN_VALUE Constant

“MIN_VALUE Constant” represents a character instance’s minimum value. In Java, the minimum value is an “u0000”, which can be retrieved by utilizing the MIN_ VALUE constant that belongs to the Character class, and passed to any char type variable for creating an empty character.

Example
We will now assign the constant of the Character class named “MIN_VALUE” constant to a char variable “ch”:

char ch = Character.MIN_VALUE;

Then, print the variable “ch” to see either it is empty or not:

System.out.println("char 'ch' is: "+ ch);

The output indicates that the “ch” is empty:

We gathered all the methods to represent an empty char in Java.

Conclusion

To represent empty char in Java, you can use different methods such as empty single quotes, null character (\0), Unicode value (\u0000), MIN_VALUE Constant of the Character class. In empty single quotes, if you do not enter space between quotes, it throws an error because an empty char value does not belong to any character. To resolve this issue, enter a space between single quotes. This tutorial explained the methods for representing empty char in Java with detailed examples.

How to Represent Empty char in Java