Does it make sense to define a final String in Java? [duplicate]

Question

Possible Duplicate:
String and Final

From http://docs.oracle.com/javase/6/docs/api/java/lang/String.html I can read that:

Strings are constant; their values cannot be changed after they are created.  

Does this mean that a final String does not really make sense in Java, in the sense that the final attribute is somehow redundant?

Answer 1

The String object is immutable but what it is is actually a reference to a String object which could be changed.

For example:

String someString = "Lala"; 

You can reassign the value held by this variable (to make it reference a different string):

someString = "asdf"; 

However, with this:

final String someString = "Lala"; 

Then the above reassignment would not be possible and would result in a compile-time error.

Answer 2

final refers to the variable, not the object, so yes, it make sense.

e.g.

final String s = "s"; s = "a"; // illegal