In Java, the **`charAt()` function** returns a character at the specified index of a string. 


# Syntax

The general syntax of the `charAt()` function is as follows:

```Java
charAt(index)
```

The **index** is a parameter passed to the function which is an integer value, ranging from `0` to `n-1`, where `n` is the size of the string. 

The `charAt()` function returns a *character* value present at the specific index.

# Example

The following piece of code explains the functionality of the `charAt()` function. 

class HelloWorld {
    public static void main( String args[] ) {
        String str = "Hello!";
        char ch = str.charAt(4);
        System.out.println(ch);
    }
}

# Exception handling
In case the user gives an invalid input, that is, an index value less than `0` or greater than the size of the string, a *string index out of bounds* exception is thrown. 

Execute the following code to see the exception:

class HelloWorld {
    public static void main( String args[] ) {
        String str = "Hello!";
        char ch = str.charAt(6);
        System.out.println(ch);
    }
}

How to get a character from a string in Java

Use Java's charAt() function to get a character at a specified index in a string.