diff --git a/src/main/java/picard/sam/BuildBamIndex.java b/src/main/java/picard/sam/BuildBamIndex.java
index 9dea8a64b..b5a554e68 100755
--- a/src/main/java/picard/sam/BuildBamIndex.java
+++ b/src/main/java/picard/sam/BuildBamIndex.java
@@ -103,7 +103,7 @@ protected int doWork() {
             final String baseFileName;
             if (inputUrl != null) {
                 final String path = inputUrl.getPath();
-                final int lastSlash = path.lastIndexOf("/");
+                final int lastSlash = path.lastIndexOf('/');
                 baseFileName = path.substring(lastSlash + 1, path.length());
             } else {
                 baseFileName = inputFile.getAbsolutePath();
@@ -111,7 +111,7 @@ protected int doWork() {
 
             if (baseFileName.endsWith(BamFileIoUtils.BAM_FILE_EXTENSION)) {
 
-                final int index = baseFileName.lastIndexOf(".");
+                final int index = baseFileName.lastIndexOf('.');
                 OUTPUT = new File(baseFileName.substring(0, index) + BAMIndex.BAMIndexSuffix);
 
             } else {
diff --git a/src/main/java/picard/sam/FastqToSam.java b/src/main/java/picard/sam/FastqToSam.java
index 441d29208..2b8bd8462 100644
--- a/src/main/java/picard/sam/FastqToSam.java
+++ b/src/main/java/picard/sam/FastqToSam.java
@@ -461,7 +461,7 @@ String getBaseName(final String readName1, final String readName2, final FastqRe
     private String [] getReadNameTokens(final String readName, final int pairNum, final FastqReader freader) {
         if(readName.equals("")) throw new PicardException(error(freader,"Pair read name "+pairNum+" cannot be empty: "+readName));
 
-        final int idx = readName.lastIndexOf("/");
+        final int idx = readName.lastIndexOf('/');
         final String[] result = new String[2];
 
         if (idx == -1) {
@@ -489,7 +489,7 @@ private String error(final FastqReader freader, final String str) {
 
     // Read names cannot contain blanks
     private String getReadName(final String fastqHeader, final boolean paired) {
-        final int idx = fastqHeader.indexOf(" ");
+        final int idx = fastqHeader.indexOf(' ');
         String readName = (idx == -1) ? fastqHeader : fastqHeader.substring(0,idx);
 
         // NOTE: the while loop isn't necessarily the most efficient way to handle this but we don't