char keyword

Description
The char type is a 16-bit unsigned integer representing Unicode characters.  The default value of a char instance variable, class variable, and array component  is the null character, 0.  The value of char is an integer from 0 to 65535 inclusive.

A character literal is expressed as a character or escape sequence, enclosed in ASCII single quotes. The following table shows the escape sequences.

Escape Sequence Unicode Value Description
\b \u0008 backspace
\t \u0009 horizontal tab HT
\n \u000a linefeed LF
\f \u000c form feed FF
\r \u000d carriage return CR
\" \u0022 double quote
\' \u0027 single quote
\\ \u005c backslash

Because Unicode escapes are processed very early, it is not correct to write '\u000a' for a character literal whose value is linefeed (LF); the Unicode escape \u000a is transformed into an actual linefeed in the translation of a source file into a class file.  The linefeed becomes a LineTerminator, and so the character literal is not valid.  Instead, you should use the escape sequence '\n'.

Examples
The following examples show legal and illegal character variable definitions.

char capitalA = 'A';            // the capital A literal 
char LF = '\n';                 // the linefeed escape sequence
char otherCapitalA = '\u0041';  // the Unicode value of a capital A
char capitalB = capitalA++;     // you can use integer operations on chars

char badChar = 100000;          // ILLEGAL.  The value is greater than 65535.

ngrelr.gif (548 bytes)
Java types

Source: The Java Language Specification. Copyright (C) 1996 Sun Microsystems, Inc.