Java: how to get Iterator from String [duplicate]

One option is to use Guava:

ImmutableList<Character> chars = Lists.charactersOf(someString);
UnmodifiableListIterator<Character> iter = chars.listIterator();

This produces an immutable list of characters that is backed by the given string (no copying involved).

If you end up doing this yourself, though, I would recommend not exposing the implementation class for the Iterator as a number of other examples do. I’d recommend instead making your own utility class and exposing a static factory method:

public static Iterator<Character> stringIterator(final String string) {
  // Ensure the error is found as soon as possible.
  if (string == null)
    throw new NullPointerException();

  return new Iterator<Character>() {
    private int index = 0;

    public boolean hasNext() {
      return index < string.length();
    }

    public Character next() {
      /*
       * Throw NoSuchElementException as defined by the Iterator contract,
       * not IndexOutOfBoundsException.
       */
      if (!hasNext())
        throw new NoSuchElementException();
      return string.charAt(index++);
    }

    public void remove() {
      throw new UnsupportedOperationException();
    }
  };
}