I have something like the below:
char[] array = new char[5];
String a = "HELLO";
String b = "WORLD";
array[0] = a.toCharArray();
array[1] = b.toCharArray();
I get error "incompatible types, char[] cannot be converted to char". My final product I'd like something like the below:
array = {{H},{E},{L},{L},{O}},{{W},{O},{R},{L},{D}};
array becomes a [2][5] array in the end result. Is toCharArray() the incorrect method to use?
You need to have a double array. Something like
char[][] arr = new char[2][];
arr[0] = a.toCharArray();
You need an array of arrays. Something like this:
char[][] array = new char[5][];
You have to use toCharArray to get a char[] back; the problem is where you put it after you extract it.
Change your array variable to be a char[][], and define it as such:
char[][] array = new char[2][5];
Note that the result won't exactly be {{H},{E},{L},{L},{O}},{{W},{O},{R},{L},{D}}; it'd be more like {{H, E, L, L, O}},{{W, O, R, L ,D}}.
You need an array of arrays
char[][] arr = new char[5][];
arr[0] = a.toCharArray();
char[] array = new char[5];
String a = "HELLO";
String b = "WORLD";
array[0] = a.toCharArray();
array[1] = b.toCharArray();
What if a and b are not of the same length ? Your method and the ones proposed by others are very limited/specific and not flexible. Try this instead to make abstraction of the length of the String.
ArrayList<char[]> array = new ArrayList();
String a = "HELLO";
String b = "WORLD";
array.add(a.toCharArray());
array.add(b.toCharArray());