diff --git a/java/rocksjni/merge_operator.cc b/java/rocksjni/merge_operator.cc
index 1b94382ef04..01779081796 100644
--- a/java/rocksjni/merge_operator.cc
+++ b/java/rocksjni/merge_operator.cc
@@ -26,12 +26,12 @@
 /*
  * Class:     org_rocksdb_StringAppendOperator
  * Method:    newSharedStringAppendOperator
- * Signature: ()J
+ * Signature: (C)J
  */
 jlong Java_org_rocksdb_StringAppendOperator_newSharedStringAppendOperator
-(JNIEnv* env, jclass jclazz) {
+(JNIEnv* env, jclass jclazz, jchar jdelim) {
   auto* sptr_string_append_op = new std::shared_ptr<rocksdb::MergeOperator>(
-    rocksdb::MergeOperators::CreateFromStringId("stringappend"));
+    rocksdb::MergeOperators::CreateStringAppendOperator((char) jdelim));
   return reinterpret_cast<jlong>(sptr_string_append_op);
 }
 
diff --git a/java/src/main/java/org/rocksdb/StringAppendOperator.java b/java/src/main/java/org/rocksdb/StringAppendOperator.java
index 85c36adc7c1..978cad6ccfe 100644
--- a/java/src/main/java/org/rocksdb/StringAppendOperator.java
+++ b/java/src/main/java/org/rocksdb/StringAppendOperator.java
@@ -11,9 +11,13 @@
  */
 public class StringAppendOperator extends MergeOperator {
     public StringAppendOperator() {
-        super(newSharedStringAppendOperator());
+        this(',');
     }
 
-    private native static long newSharedStringAppendOperator();
+    public StringAppendOperator(char delim) {
+        super(newSharedStringAppendOperator(delim));
+    }
+
+    private native static long newSharedStringAppendOperator(final char delim);
     @Override protected final native void disposeInternal(final long handle);
 }
diff --git a/utilities/merge_operators.h b/utilities/merge_operators.h
index 40a19cf862a..4c720b822fe 100644
--- a/utilities/merge_operators.h
+++ b/utilities/merge_operators.h
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ class MergeOperators {
   static std::shared_ptr<MergeOperator> CreateDeprecatedPutOperator();
   static std::shared_ptr<MergeOperator> CreateUInt64AddOperator();
   static std::shared_ptr<MergeOperator> CreateStringAppendOperator();
+  static std::shared_ptr<MergeOperator> CreateStringAppendOperator(char delim_char);
   static std::shared_ptr<MergeOperator> CreateStringAppendTESTOperator();
   static std::shared_ptr<MergeOperator> CreateMaxOperator();
   static std::shared_ptr<MergeOperator> CreateBytesXOROperator();
diff --git a/utilities/merge_operators/string_append/stringappend.cc b/utilities/merge_operators/string_append/stringappend.cc
index e3e755dfd8c..d9c135fd371 100644
--- a/utilities/merge_operators/string_append/stringappend.cc
+++ b/utilities/merge_operators/string_append/stringappend.cc
@@ -52,4 +52,8 @@ std::shared_ptr<MergeOperator> MergeOperators::CreateStringAppendOperator() {
   return std::make_shared<StringAppendOperator>(',');
 }
 
+std::shared_ptr<MergeOperator> MergeOperators::CreateStringAppendOperator(char delim_char) {
+  return std::make_shared<StringAppendOperator>(delim_char);
+}
+
 } // namespace rocksdb