Java: Create a basic string compression method using the counts of repeated characters

Last update on May 13 2025 13:00:14 (UTC/GMT +8 hours)

String Compression with Repeated Counts

Write a Java program to create a basic string compression method using repeated character counts.

Visual Presentation:

Sample Solution:

Java Code:

 import java.util.Scanner; 

public class StringCompression {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        // Create an instance of the StringCompression class
        StringCompression str = new StringCompression();
        
        String s1, s2; 
        Scanner in = new Scanner(System.in);
        
        // Prompt the user to enter a string (including spaces)
        System.out.println("Enter a string (you can include space as well)"); 
        s1 = in.nextLine(); 
        
        // Trim all the spaces from the string using replaceAll method
        s2 = s1.replaceAll("\\s", "");
        
        // Call the Compression method to compress the string
        str.Compression(s2);
    }
 
    // Create a Java Method Compression to compress the string
    public static String Compression(String s) {
        int count = 1;
        StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();

        // Below for loop counts all characters of the string apart from the last one
        // The last character won't get appended by the StringBuilder here as it 
        // does not enter the for loop once the length completes the count
        for (int i = 1; i < s.length() - 1; i++) {
            if (s.charAt(i) == s.charAt(i - 1)) {
                count++;
            } else {
                sb.append(s.charAt(i - 1));
                sb.append(count);
                count = 1;
            }
        }
        
        // Count the last character of the string
        if (s.length() > 1) {
            // Compare the last two characters of the string
            if (s.charAt(s.length() - 1) == s.charAt(s.length() - 2)) {
                count++;
            } else {
                sb.append(s.charAt(s.length() - 2));
                sb.append(count);
                count = 1;
            }
            sb.append(s.charAt(s.length() - 1));
            sb.append(count);
        }
        
        // Convert the StringBuilder to a string
        s = sb.toString();
        
        // Print the compressed string along with the counts of repeated characters
        System.out.println("The compressed string along with the counts of repeated characters is:" + "\n" + s);
        
        // Return the compressed string
        return s;
    }
}

Sample Output:

Enter a string (you can include space as well)
 aaaabbbbcccccddddeeee
The compressed string along with the counts of repeated characters is:
a4b4c5d4e4

Flowchart 1:

For more Practice: Solve these Related Problems:

• Write a Java program to compress a string by replacing consecutive characters with the character followed by its count in reverse order.
• Write a Java program to perform string compression only on sequences longer than a specified threshold.
• Write a Java program to compress a string and then decompress it back to its original form.
• Write a Java program to implement a custom string compression algorithm that alternates between counts and characters.

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• Java Basic Part-II Programming Exercises Home ↩
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