diff --git a/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/csv/CSVFormat.java b/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/csv/CSVFormat.java
index 40b2d007..d7d5ccba 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/csv/CSVFormat.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/csv/CSVFormat.java
@@ -1679,6 +1679,15 @@ public final class CSVFormat implements Serializable {
         return delimiter.charAt(0);
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Gets the character delimiting the values (typically ";", "," or "\t").
+     *
+     * @return the delimiter.
+     */
+    char[] getDelimiterCharArray() {
+        return delimiter.toCharArray();
+    }
+
     /**
      * Gets the character delimiting the values (typically ";", "," or "\t").
      *
@@ -2126,7 +2135,7 @@ public final class CSVFormat implements Serializable {
         int start = 0;
         int pos = 0;
         final int end = charSeq.length();
-        final char[] delim = getDelimiterString().toCharArray();
+        final char[] delim = getDelimiterCharArray();
         final int delimLength = delim.length;
         final char escape = getEscapeCharacter().charValue();
         while (pos < end) {
@@ -2168,7 +2177,7 @@ public final class CSVFormat implements Serializable {
         int pos = 0;
         @SuppressWarnings("resource") // Temp reader on input reader.
         final ExtendedBufferedReader bufferedReader = new ExtendedBufferedReader(reader);
-        final char[] delim = getDelimiterString().toCharArray();
+        final char[] delim = getDelimiterCharArray();
         final int delimLength = delim.length;
         final char escape = getEscapeCharacter().charValue();
         final StringBuilder builder = new StringBuilder(IOUtils.DEFAULT_BUFFER_SIZE);
@@ -2217,7 +2226,7 @@ public final class CSVFormat implements Serializable {
         int start = 0;
         int pos = 0;
         final int len = charSeq.length();
-        final char[] delim = getDelimiterString().toCharArray();
+        final char[] delim = getDelimiterCharArray();
         final int delimLength = delim.length;
         final char quoteChar = getQuoteCharacter().charValue();
         // If escape char not specified, default to the quote char
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/csv/Lexer.java b/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/csv/Lexer.java
index eeb39a64..ef379ec3 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/csv/Lexer.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/csv/Lexer.java
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@ final class Lexer implements Closeable {
 
     Lexer(final CSVFormat format, final ExtendedBufferedReader reader) {
         this.reader = reader;
-        this.delimiter = format.getDelimiterString().toCharArray();
+        this.delimiter = format.getDelimiterCharArray();
         this.escape = mapNullToDisabled(format.getEscapeCharacter());
         this.quoteChar = mapNullToDisabled(format.getQuoteCharacter());
         this.commentStart = mapNullToDisabled(format.getCommentMarker());