Create an Observable that emits each char in the source String.

src/main/java/rx/observables/StringObservable.java

@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ public class StringObservable {
     public static Observable<byte[]> from(final InputStream i) {
         return from(i, 8 * 1024);
     }
-    
+
     /**
      * Func0 that allows throwing an {@link IOException}s commonly thrown during IO operations.
      * @see StringObservable#using(UnsafeFunc0, Func1)
@@ -532,50 +532,6 @@ public void onNext(String t) {
         });
     }
 
-    public final static class Line {
-        private final int number;
-        private final String text;
-
-        public Line(int number, String text) {
-            this.number = number;
-            this.text = text;
-        }
-
-        public int getNumber() {
-            return number;
-        }
-
-        public String getText() {
-            return text;
-        }
-
-        @Override
-        public int hashCode() {
-            int result = 31 + number;
-            result = 31 * result + (text == null ? 0 : text.hashCode());
-            return result;
-        }
-
-        @Override
-        public boolean equals(Object obj) {
-            if (!(obj instanceof Line))
-                return false;
-            Line other = (Line) obj;
-            if (number != other.number)
-                return false;
-            if (other.text == text)
-                return true;
-            if (text == null)
-                return false;
-            return text.equals(other.text);
-        }
-
-        @Override
-        public String toString() {
-            return number + ":" + text;
-        }
-    }
-
     /**
      * Splits the {@link Observable} of Strings by lines and numbers them (zero based index)
      * <p>
@@ -584,13 +540,42 @@ public String toString() {
      * @param source
      * @return the Observable conaining the split lines of the source
      */
-    public static Observable<Line> byLine(Observable<String> source) {
-        return split(source, System.getProperty("line.separator")).map(new Func1<String, Line>() {
-            int lineNumber = 0;
+    public static Observable<String> byLine(Observable<String> source) {
+        return split(source, System.getProperty("line.separator"));
+    }
 
+    /**
+     * Converts an String into an Observable that emits the chars in the String.
+     * <p>
+     * <img width="640" height="315" src="https://raw.github.com/wiki/ReactiveX/RxJava/images/rx-operators/from.png" alt="">
+     *
+     * @param str
+     *            the source String
+     * @return an Observable that emits each char in the source String
+     * @see <a href="https://github.com/ReactiveX/RxJava/wiki/Creating-Observables#from">RxJava wiki: from</a>
+     */
+    public static Observable<String> byCharacter(Observable<String> source) {
+        return source.lift(new Operator<String, String>() {
             @Override
-            public Line call(String text) {
-                return new Line(lineNumber++, text);
+            public Subscriber<? super String> call(final Subscriber<? super String> subscriber) {
+                return new Subscriber<String>(subscriber) {
+                    @Override
+                    public void onCompleted() {
+                        subscriber.onCompleted();
+                    }
+
+                    @Override
+                    public void onError(Throwable e) {
+                        subscriber.onError(e);
+                    }
+
+                    @Override
+                    public void onNext(String str) {
+                        for (char c : str.toCharArray()) {
+                            subscriber.onNext(Character.toString(c));
+                        }
+                    }
+                };
             }
         });
     }

src/test/java/rx/observables/StringObservableTest.java

@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@
 import static org.mockito.Mockito.times;
 import static org.mockito.Mockito.verify;
 import static rx.observables.StringObservable.byLine;
+import static rx.observables.StringObservable.byCharacter;
 import static rx.observables.StringObservable.decode;
 import static rx.observables.StringObservable.encode;
 import static rx.observables.StringObservable.from;
@@ -52,7 +53,6 @@
 import rx.Observable;
 import rx.Observer;
 import rx.functions.Func1;
-import rx.observables.StringObservable.Line;
 import rx.observables.StringObservable.UnsafeFunc0;
 import rx.observers.TestObserver;
 import rx.observers.TestSubscriber;
@@ -277,7 +277,7 @@ public synchronized int read(byte[] b, int off, int len) {
         StringObservable.from(is).first().toBlocking().single();
         assertEquals(1, numReads.get());
     }
-    
+
     @Test
     public void testFromReader() {
         final String inStr = "test";
@@ -290,10 +290,16 @@ public void testFromReader() {
     public void testByLine() {
         String newLine = System.getProperty("line.separator");
 
-        List<Line> lines = byLine(Observable.from(Arrays.asList("qwer", newLine + "asdf" + newLine, "zx", "cv")))
-                .toList().toBlocking().single();
+        List<String> lines = byLine(Observable.from(Arrays.asList("qwer", newLine + "asdf" + newLine, "zx", "cv"))).toList().toBlocking().single();
 
-        assertEquals(Arrays.asList(new Line(0, "qwer"), new Line(1, "asdf"), new Line(2, "zxcv")), lines);
+        assertEquals(Arrays.asList("qwer", "asdf", "zxcv"), lines);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testByCharacter() {
+        List<String> chars = byCharacter(Observable.from(Arrays.asList("foo", "bar"))).toList().toBlocking().single();
+
+        assertEquals(Arrays.asList("f", "o", "o", "b", "a", "r"), chars);
     }
 
     @Test
@@ -329,7 +335,7 @@ public void testUsingCloseOnError() throws IOException {
             public int read(char[] cbuf) throws IOException {
                 throw new IOException("boo");
             }
-            
+
             @Override
             public void close() throws IOException {
                 closed.set(true);