Incrementing Char Type In Java

Issue

While practicing Java I randomly came up with this:

class test
{
    public static void main(String arg[])
    {
        char x='A';
        x=x+1;
        System.out.println(x);
    }
}

I thought it will throw an error because we can't add the numeric value 1 to the letter A in mathematics, but the following program runs correctly and prints

B 

How is that possible?

Solution

In Java, char is a numeric type. When you add 1 to a char, you get to the next unicode code point. In case of 'A', the next code point is 'B':

char x='A';
x+=1;
System.out.println(x);

Note that you cannot use x=x+1 because it causes an implicit narrowing conversion. You need to use either x++ or x+=1 instead.

Answered By - Sergey Kalinichenko