Java tutorial
//package com.java2s; import java.util.Collections; import java.util.HashSet; import java.util.Set; public class Main { /** * Convert a String to a unmodifiable set of characters. * @param str The string to convert * @return A set containing the characters in str. A empty set * is returned if str is null. */ public static Set<Character> strToUnmodifiableSet(String str) { if (str == null) return Collections.emptySet(); if (str.length() == 1) return Collections.singleton(str.charAt(0)); return Collections.unmodifiableSet(strToSet(str)); } /** * Convert a String to a set of characters. * @param str The string to convert * @return A set containing the characters in str. A empty set * is returned if str is null. */ public static Set<Character> strToSet(String str) { Set<Character> set; if (str == null) return new HashSet<Character>(); set = new HashSet<Character>(str.length()); for (int i = 0; i < str.length(); i++) set.add(str.charAt(i)); return set; } }