code: public static Character toCharacterObject(String str) {
          if (StringUtils.isEmpty(str)) {
              return null;
          }
          return toCharacterObject(str.charAt(0));
      }
docs: <p>Converts the String to a Character using the first character, returning
  null for empty Strings.</p>
  
  <p>For ASCII 7 bit characters, this uses a cache that will return the
  same Character object each time.</p>
  
  <pre>
  CharUtils.toCharacterObject(null) = null
  CharUtils.toCharacterObject("")   = null
  CharUtils.toCharacterObject("A")  = 'A'
  CharUtils.toCharacterObject("BA") = 'B'
  </pre>
  
  @param str  the character to convert
  @return the Character value of the first letter of the String