Can String hold greater than Integer.MAX_VALUE number of character

Question

If I want to create a String object which contains x number of character, where x > Integer.MAX_VALUE, can I do that?

Thanks.

Answer 1

Have a look at the source.

the field count, which indicates the string's size is an int - so you will get an overflow.

private final int count;

Answer 2

Instead of storing a single String of length 2 bn (This will use 8 GB of memory to create btw) You can create a collection of Strings. Its not as easy to work with but can effectively be any length.