 <p>You should use <code>ArrayList</code> rather than <code>Vector</code>. There is no simple way to convert though. One way is</p> <pre><code>ArrayList&lt;String&gt; list = new ArrayList&lt;String&gt;(); for (char a : x) list.add(String.valueOf(a)); </code></pre> <p><code>Arrays.asList</code> works for arrays of object references, not arrays of primitives like <code>char</code>.</p> <p>If you are using Java 8, another way is</p> <pre><code>List&lt;String&gt; list = IntStream.range(0, x.length) .mapToObj(i -&gt; String.valueOf(x[i])) .collect(Collectors.toList()); </code></pre>