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copied!<p>Considering the <a href="http://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/api/java/lang/String.html" rel="noreferrer"><code>String</code></a> class' <a href="http://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/api/java/lang/String.html#length()" rel="noreferrer"><code>length</code></a> method returns an <code>int</code>, the maximum length that would be returned by the method would be <a href="http://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/api/java/lang/Integer.html#MAX_VALUE" rel="noreferrer"><code>Integer.MAX_VALUE</code></a>, which is <code>2^31 - 1</code> (or approximately 2 billion.)</p> <p>In terms of lengths and indexing of arrays, (such as <code>char[]</code>, which is probably the way the internal data representation is implemented for <code>String</code>s), <a href="http://docs.oracle.com/javase/specs/jls/se7/html/jls-10.html" rel="noreferrer">Chapter 10: Arrays</a> of <a href="http://docs.oracle.com/javase/specs/jls/se7/html/index.html" rel="noreferrer">The Java Language Specification, Java SE 7 Edition</a> says the following:</p> <blockquote> <p>The variables contained in an array have no names; instead they are referenced by array access expressions that use nonnegative integer index values. These variables are called the <em>components</em> of the array. If an array has <code>n</code> components, we say <code>n</code> is the <em>length</em> of the array; the components of the array are referenced using integer indices from <code>0</code> to <code>n - 1</code>, inclusive.</p> </blockquote> <p>Furthermore, the indexing must be by <code>int</code> values, as mentioned in <a href="http://docs.oracle.com/javase/specs/jls/se7/html/jls-10.html#jls-10.4" rel="noreferrer">Section 10.4</a>:</p> <blockquote> <p>Arrays must be indexed by <code>int</code> values;</p> </blockquote> <p>Therefore, it appears that the limit is indeed <code>2^31 - 1</code>, as that is the maximum value for a nonnegative <code>int</code> value.</p> <p>However, there probably are going to be other limitations, such as the maximum allocatable size for an array.</p>

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