Related
I am trying to override equals method in Java. I have a class People which basically has 2 data fields name and age. Now I want to override equals method so that I can check between 2 People objects.
My code is as follows
public boolean equals(People other){
boolean result;
if((other == null) || (getClass() != other.getClass())){
result = false;
} // end if
else{
People otherPeople = (People)other;
result = name.equals(other.name) && age.equals(other.age);
} // end else
return result;
} // end equals
But when I write age.equals(other.age) it gives me error as equals method can only compare String and age is Integer.
Solution
I used == operator as suggested and my problem is solved.
//Written by K#stackoverflow
public class Main {
/**
* #param args the command line arguments
*/
public static void main(String[] args) {
// TODO code application logic here
ArrayList<Person> people = new ArrayList<Person>();
people.add(new Person("Subash Adhikari", 28));
people.add(new Person("K", 28));
people.add(new Person("StackOverflow", 4));
people.add(new Person("Subash Adhikari", 28));
for (int i = 0; i < people.size() - 1; i++) {
for (int y = i + 1; y <= people.size() - 1; y++) {
boolean check = people.get(i).equals(people.get(y));
System.out.println("-- " + people.get(i).getName() + " - VS - " + people.get(y).getName());
System.out.println(check);
}
}
}
}
//written by K#stackoverflow
public class Person {
private String name;
private int age;
public Person(String name, int age){
this.name = name;
this.age = age;
}
#Override
public boolean equals(Object obj) {
if (obj == null) {
return false;
}
if (obj.getClass() != this.getClass()) {
return false;
}
final Person other = (Person) obj;
if ((this.name == null) ? (other.name != null) : !this.name.equals(other.name)) {
return false;
}
if (this.age != other.age) {
return false;
}
return true;
}
#Override
public int hashCode() {
int hash = 3;
hash = 53 * hash + (this.name != null ? this.name.hashCode() : 0);
hash = 53 * hash + this.age;
return hash;
}
public int getAge() {
return age;
}
public void setAge(int age) {
this.age = age;
}
public String getName() {
return name;
}
public void setName(String name) {
this.name = name;
}
}
Output:
run:
-- Subash Adhikari - VS - K false
-- Subash Adhikari - VS - StackOverflow false
-- Subash Adhikari - VS - Subash Adhikari true
-- K - VS - StackOverflow false
-- K - VS - Subash Adhikari false
-- StackOverflow - VS - Subash Adhikari false
-- BUILD SUCCESSFUL (total time: 0 seconds)
Introducing a new method signature that changes the parameter types is called overloading:
public boolean equals(People other){
Here People is different than Object.
When a method signature remains the identical to that of its superclass, it is called overriding and the #Override annotation helps distinguish the two at compile-time:
#Override
public boolean equals(Object other){
Without seeing the actual declaration of age, it is difficult to say why the error appears.
I'm not sure of the details as you haven't posted the whole code, but:
remember to override hashCode() as well
the equals method should have Object, not People as its argument type. At the moment you are overloading, not overriding, the equals method, which probably isn't what you want, especially given that you check its type later.
you can use instanceof to check it is a People object e.g. if (!(other instanceof People)) { result = false;}
equals is used for all objects, but not primitives. I think you mean age is an int (primitive), in which case just use ==. Note that an Integer (with a capital 'I') is an Object which should be compared with equals.
See What issues should be considered when overriding equals and hashCode in Java? for more details.
Item 10: Obey the general contract when overriding equals
According to Effective Java, Overriding the equals method seems simple, but there are many ways to get it wrong, and consequences can be dire. The easiest way to avoid problems is not to override the equals method, in which case each instance of the class is equal only to itself. This is the right thing to do if any of the following conditions apply:
Each instance of the class is inherently unique. This is true for classes such as Thread that represent active entities rather than values. The equals implementation provided by Object has exactly the right behavior for these classes.
There is no need for the class to provide a “logical equality” test. For example, java.util.regex.Pattern could have overridden equals to check whether two Pattern instances represented exactly the same regular expression, but the designers didn’t think that clients would need or want this functionality. Under these circumstances, the equals implementation inherited from Object is ideal.
A superclass has already overridden equals, and the superclass behavior is appropriate for this class. For example, most Set implementations inherit their equals implementation from AbstractSet, List implementations from AbstractList, and Map implementations from AbstractMap.
The class is private or package-private, and you are certain that its equals method will never be invoked. If you are extremely risk-averse, you can override the equals method to ensure that it isn’t invoked accidentally:
The equals method implements an equivalence relation. It has these properties:
Reflexive: For any non-null reference value x, x.equals(x) must return true.
Symmetric: For any non-null reference values x and y, x.equals(y) must return true if and only if y.equals(x) returns true.
Transitive: For any non-null reference values x, y, z, if x.equals(y) returns true and y.equals(z) returns true, then x.equals(z) must return true.
Consistent: For any non-null reference values x and y, multiple invocations of x.equals(y) must consistently return true or consistently return false, provided no information used in equals comparisons is modified.
For any non-null reference value x, x.equals(null) must return false.
Here’s a recipe for a high-quality equals method:
Use the == operator to check if the argument is a reference to this object. If so, return true. This is just a performance optimization but one that is worth doing if the comparison is potentially expensive.
Use the instanceof operator to check if the argument has the correct type. If not, return false. Typically, the correct type is the class in which the method occurs. Occasionally, it is some interface implemented by this class. Use an interface if the class implements an interface that refines the equals contract to permit comparisons across classes that implement the interface. Collection interfaces such as Set, List, Map, and Map.Entry have this property.
Cast the argument to the correct type. Because this cast was preceded by an instanceof test, it is guaranteed to succeed.
For each “significant” field in the class, check if that field of the argument matches the corresponding field of this object. If all these tests succeed, return true; otherwise, return false. If the type in Step 2 is an interface, you must access the argument’s fields via interface methods; if the type is a class, you may be able to access the fields directly, depending on their accessibility.
For primitive fields whose type is not float or double, use the == operator for comparisons; for object reference fields, call the equals method recursively; for float fields, use the static Float.compare(float, float) method; and for double fields, use Double.compare(double, double). The special treatment of float and double fields is made necessary by the existence of Float.NaN, -0.0f and the analogous double values; While you could compare float and double fields with the static methods Float.equals and Double.equals, this would entail autoboxing on every comparison, which would have poor performance. For array fields, apply these guidelines to each element. If every element in an array field is significant, use one of the Arrays.equals methods.
Some object reference fields may legitimately contain null. To avoid the possibility of a NullPointerException, check such fields for equality using the static method Objects.equals(Object, Object).
// Class with a typical equals method
public final class PhoneNumber {
private final short areaCode, prefix, lineNum;
public PhoneNumber(int areaCode, int prefix, int lineNum) {
this.areaCode = rangeCheck(areaCode, 999, "area code");
this.prefix = rangeCheck(prefix, 999, "prefix");
this.lineNum = rangeCheck(lineNum, 9999, "line num");
}
private static short rangeCheck(int val, int max, String arg) {
if (val < 0 || val > max)
throw new IllegalArgumentException(arg + ": " + val);
return (short) val;
}
#Override public boolean equals(Object o) {
if (o == this)
return true;
if (!(o instanceof PhoneNumber))
return false;
PhoneNumber pn = (PhoneNumber)o;
return pn.lineNum == lineNum && pn.prefix == prefix
&& pn.areaCode == areaCode;
}
... // Remainder omitted
}
#Override
public boolean equals(Object that){
if(this == that) return true;//if both of them points the same address in memory
if(!(that instanceof People)) return false; // if "that" is not a People or a childclass
People thatPeople = (People)that; // than we can cast it to People safely
return this.name.equals(thatPeople.name) && this.age == thatPeople.age;// if they have the same name and same age, then the 2 objects are equal unless they're pointing to different memory adresses
}
When comparing objects in Java, you make a semantic check, comparing the type and identifying state of the objects to:
itself (same instance)
itself (clone, or reconstructed copy)
other objects of different types
other objects of the same type
null
Rules:
Symmetry: a.equals(b) == b.equals(a)
equals() always yields true or false, but never a NullpointerException, ClassCastException or any other throwable
Comparison:
Type check: both instances need to be of the same type, meaning you have to compare the actual classes for equality. This is often not correctly implemented, when developers use instanceof for type comparison (which only works as long as there are no subclasses, and violates the symmetry rule when A extends B -> a instanceof b != b instanceof a).
Semantic check of identifying state: Make sure you understand by which state the instances are identified. Persons may be identified by their social security number, but not by hair color (can be dyed), name (can be changed) or age (changes all the time). Only with value objects should you compare the full state (all non-transient fields), otherwise check only what identifies the instance.
For your Person class:
public boolean equals(Object obj) {
// same instance
if (obj == this) {
return true;
}
// null
if (obj == null) {
return false;
}
// type
if (!getClass().equals(obj.getClass())) {
return false;
}
// cast and compare state
Person other = (Person) obj;
return Objects.equals(name, other.name) && Objects.equals(age, other.age);
}
Reusable, generic utility class:
public final class Equals {
private Equals() {
// private constructor, no instances allowed
}
/**
* Convenience equals implementation, does the object equality, null and type checking, and comparison of the identifying state
*
* #param instance object instance (where the equals() is implemented)
* #param other other instance to compare to
* #param stateAccessors stateAccessors for state to compare, optional
* #param <T> instance type
* #return true when equals, false otherwise
*/
public static <T> boolean as(T instance, Object other, Function<? super T, Object>... stateAccessors) {
if (instance == null) {
return other == null;
}
if (instance == other) {
return true;
}
if (other == null) {
return false;
}
if (!instance.getClass().equals(other.getClass())) {
return false;
}
if (stateAccessors == null) {
return true;
}
return Stream.of(stateAccessors).allMatch(s -> Objects.equals(s.apply(instance), s.apply((T) other)));
}
}
For your Person class, using this utility class:
public boolean equals(Object obj) {
return Equals.as(this, obj, t -> t.name, t -> t.age);
}
Since I'm guessing age is of type int:
public boolean equals(Object other){
boolean result;
if((other == null) || (getClass() != other.getClass())){
result = false;
} // end if
else{
People otherPeople = (People)other;
result = name.equals(otherPeople.name) && age == otherPeople.age;
} // end else
return result;
} // end equals
if age is int you should use == if it is Integer object then you can use equals().
You also need to implement hashcode method if you override equals. Details of the contract is available in the javadoc of Object and also at various pages in web.
tl;dr
record Person ( String name , int age ) {}
if(
new Person( "Carol" , 27 ) // Compiler auto-generates implicitly the constructor.
.equals( // Compiler auto-generates implicitly the `equals` method.
new Person( "Carol" , 42 )
)
) // Returns `false`, as the name matches but the age differs.
{ … }
Details
While your specific problem is solved (using == for equality test between int primitive values), there is an alternative that eliminates the need to write that code.
record
Java 16 brings the record feature.
A record is a brief way to write a class whose main purpose is to transparently and immutably carry data. The compiler implicitly creates the constructor, getters, equals & hashCode, and toString.
equals method provided automatically
The default implicit equals method compares each and every member field that you declared for the record. The members can be objects or primitives, both types are automatically compared in the default equals method.
For example, if you have a Person record carrying two fields, name & age, both of those fields are automatically compared to determine equality between a pair of Person objects.
public record Person ( String name , int age ) {}
Try it.
Person alice = new Person( "Alice" , 23 ) ;
Person alice2 = new Person( "Alice" , 23 ) ;
Person bob = new Person( "Bob" , 19 ) ;
boolean samePerson1 = alice.equals( alice2 ) ; // true.
boolean samePerson2 = alice.equals( bob ) ; // false.
You can override the equals method on a record, if you want a behavior other than the default. But if you do override equals, be sure to override hashCode for consistent logic, as you would for a conventional Java class. And, think twice: Whenever adding methods to a record, reconsider if a record structure is really appropriate to that problem domain.
Tip: A record can be defined within another class, and even locally within a method.
Here is the solution that I recently used:
public class Test {
public String a;
public long b;
public Date c;
public String d;
#Override
public boolean equals(Object obj) {
if (this == obj) {
return true;
}
if (!(obj instanceof Test)) {
return false;
}
Test testOther = (Test) obj;
return (a != null ? a.equals(testOther.a) : testOther.a == null)
&& (b == testOther.b)
&& (c != null ? c.equals(testOther.c) : testOther.c == null)
&& (d != null ? d.equals(testOther.d) : testOther.d == null);
}
}
For lazy programmers: lombok library is very easy and time saving. please have a look at this link
instead of writing lines of codes and rules, you just need to apply this library in your IDE and then just #Data and it is Done.
import lombok.Data;
#Data // this is the magic word :D
public class pojo {
int price;
String currency;
String productName;
}
in fact in the above code, #Data is a shortcut for
import lombok.Data;
import lombok.EqualsAndHashCode;
import lombok.Getter;
import lombok.Setter;
import lombok.ToString;
#Getter
#Setter
#EqualsAndHashCode
#ToString
//or instead of all above #Data
public class pojo {
int price;
String currency;
String productName;
}
I am trying to override equals method in Java. I have a class People which basically has 2 data fields name and age. Now I want to override equals method so that I can check between 2 People objects.
My code is as follows
public boolean equals(People other){
boolean result;
if((other == null) || (getClass() != other.getClass())){
result = false;
} // end if
else{
People otherPeople = (People)other;
result = name.equals(other.name) && age.equals(other.age);
} // end else
return result;
} // end equals
But when I write age.equals(other.age) it gives me error as equals method can only compare String and age is Integer.
Solution
I used == operator as suggested and my problem is solved.
//Written by K#stackoverflow
public class Main {
/**
* #param args the command line arguments
*/
public static void main(String[] args) {
// TODO code application logic here
ArrayList<Person> people = new ArrayList<Person>();
people.add(new Person("Subash Adhikari", 28));
people.add(new Person("K", 28));
people.add(new Person("StackOverflow", 4));
people.add(new Person("Subash Adhikari", 28));
for (int i = 0; i < people.size() - 1; i++) {
for (int y = i + 1; y <= people.size() - 1; y++) {
boolean check = people.get(i).equals(people.get(y));
System.out.println("-- " + people.get(i).getName() + " - VS - " + people.get(y).getName());
System.out.println(check);
}
}
}
}
//written by K#stackoverflow
public class Person {
private String name;
private int age;
public Person(String name, int age){
this.name = name;
this.age = age;
}
#Override
public boolean equals(Object obj) {
if (obj == null) {
return false;
}
if (obj.getClass() != this.getClass()) {
return false;
}
final Person other = (Person) obj;
if ((this.name == null) ? (other.name != null) : !this.name.equals(other.name)) {
return false;
}
if (this.age != other.age) {
return false;
}
return true;
}
#Override
public int hashCode() {
int hash = 3;
hash = 53 * hash + (this.name != null ? this.name.hashCode() : 0);
hash = 53 * hash + this.age;
return hash;
}
public int getAge() {
return age;
}
public void setAge(int age) {
this.age = age;
}
public String getName() {
return name;
}
public void setName(String name) {
this.name = name;
}
}
Output:
run:
-- Subash Adhikari - VS - K false
-- Subash Adhikari - VS - StackOverflow false
-- Subash Adhikari - VS - Subash Adhikari true
-- K - VS - StackOverflow false
-- K - VS - Subash Adhikari false
-- StackOverflow - VS - Subash Adhikari false
-- BUILD SUCCESSFUL (total time: 0 seconds)
Introducing a new method signature that changes the parameter types is called overloading:
public boolean equals(People other){
Here People is different than Object.
When a method signature remains the identical to that of its superclass, it is called overriding and the #Override annotation helps distinguish the two at compile-time:
#Override
public boolean equals(Object other){
Without seeing the actual declaration of age, it is difficult to say why the error appears.
I'm not sure of the details as you haven't posted the whole code, but:
remember to override hashCode() as well
the equals method should have Object, not People as its argument type. At the moment you are overloading, not overriding, the equals method, which probably isn't what you want, especially given that you check its type later.
you can use instanceof to check it is a People object e.g. if (!(other instanceof People)) { result = false;}
equals is used for all objects, but not primitives. I think you mean age is an int (primitive), in which case just use ==. Note that an Integer (with a capital 'I') is an Object which should be compared with equals.
See What issues should be considered when overriding equals and hashCode in Java? for more details.
Item 10: Obey the general contract when overriding equals
According to Effective Java, Overriding the equals method seems simple, but there are many ways to get it wrong, and consequences can be dire. The easiest way to avoid problems is not to override the equals method, in which case each instance of the class is equal only to itself. This is the right thing to do if any of the following conditions apply:
Each instance of the class is inherently unique. This is true for classes such as Thread that represent active entities rather than values. The equals implementation provided by Object has exactly the right behavior for these classes.
There is no need for the class to provide a “logical equality” test. For example, java.util.regex.Pattern could have overridden equals to check whether two Pattern instances represented exactly the same regular expression, but the designers didn’t think that clients would need or want this functionality. Under these circumstances, the equals implementation inherited from Object is ideal.
A superclass has already overridden equals, and the superclass behavior is appropriate for this class. For example, most Set implementations inherit their equals implementation from AbstractSet, List implementations from AbstractList, and Map implementations from AbstractMap.
The class is private or package-private, and you are certain that its equals method will never be invoked. If you are extremely risk-averse, you can override the equals method to ensure that it isn’t invoked accidentally:
The equals method implements an equivalence relation. It has these properties:
Reflexive: For any non-null reference value x, x.equals(x) must return true.
Symmetric: For any non-null reference values x and y, x.equals(y) must return true if and only if y.equals(x) returns true.
Transitive: For any non-null reference values x, y, z, if x.equals(y) returns true and y.equals(z) returns true, then x.equals(z) must return true.
Consistent: For any non-null reference values x and y, multiple invocations of x.equals(y) must consistently return true or consistently return false, provided no information used in equals comparisons is modified.
For any non-null reference value x, x.equals(null) must return false.
Here’s a recipe for a high-quality equals method:
Use the == operator to check if the argument is a reference to this object. If so, return true. This is just a performance optimization but one that is worth doing if the comparison is potentially expensive.
Use the instanceof operator to check if the argument has the correct type. If not, return false. Typically, the correct type is the class in which the method occurs. Occasionally, it is some interface implemented by this class. Use an interface if the class implements an interface that refines the equals contract to permit comparisons across classes that implement the interface. Collection interfaces such as Set, List, Map, and Map.Entry have this property.
Cast the argument to the correct type. Because this cast was preceded by an instanceof test, it is guaranteed to succeed.
For each “significant” field in the class, check if that field of the argument matches the corresponding field of this object. If all these tests succeed, return true; otherwise, return false. If the type in Step 2 is an interface, you must access the argument’s fields via interface methods; if the type is a class, you may be able to access the fields directly, depending on their accessibility.
For primitive fields whose type is not float or double, use the == operator for comparisons; for object reference fields, call the equals method recursively; for float fields, use the static Float.compare(float, float) method; and for double fields, use Double.compare(double, double). The special treatment of float and double fields is made necessary by the existence of Float.NaN, -0.0f and the analogous double values; While you could compare float and double fields with the static methods Float.equals and Double.equals, this would entail autoboxing on every comparison, which would have poor performance. For array fields, apply these guidelines to each element. If every element in an array field is significant, use one of the Arrays.equals methods.
Some object reference fields may legitimately contain null. To avoid the possibility of a NullPointerException, check such fields for equality using the static method Objects.equals(Object, Object).
// Class with a typical equals method
public final class PhoneNumber {
private final short areaCode, prefix, lineNum;
public PhoneNumber(int areaCode, int prefix, int lineNum) {
this.areaCode = rangeCheck(areaCode, 999, "area code");
this.prefix = rangeCheck(prefix, 999, "prefix");
this.lineNum = rangeCheck(lineNum, 9999, "line num");
}
private static short rangeCheck(int val, int max, String arg) {
if (val < 0 || val > max)
throw new IllegalArgumentException(arg + ": " + val);
return (short) val;
}
#Override public boolean equals(Object o) {
if (o == this)
return true;
if (!(o instanceof PhoneNumber))
return false;
PhoneNumber pn = (PhoneNumber)o;
return pn.lineNum == lineNum && pn.prefix == prefix
&& pn.areaCode == areaCode;
}
... // Remainder omitted
}
#Override
public boolean equals(Object that){
if(this == that) return true;//if both of them points the same address in memory
if(!(that instanceof People)) return false; // if "that" is not a People or a childclass
People thatPeople = (People)that; // than we can cast it to People safely
return this.name.equals(thatPeople.name) && this.age == thatPeople.age;// if they have the same name and same age, then the 2 objects are equal unless they're pointing to different memory adresses
}
When comparing objects in Java, you make a semantic check, comparing the type and identifying state of the objects to:
itself (same instance)
itself (clone, or reconstructed copy)
other objects of different types
other objects of the same type
null
Rules:
Symmetry: a.equals(b) == b.equals(a)
equals() always yields true or false, but never a NullpointerException, ClassCastException or any other throwable
Comparison:
Type check: both instances need to be of the same type, meaning you have to compare the actual classes for equality. This is often not correctly implemented, when developers use instanceof for type comparison (which only works as long as there are no subclasses, and violates the symmetry rule when A extends B -> a instanceof b != b instanceof a).
Semantic check of identifying state: Make sure you understand by which state the instances are identified. Persons may be identified by their social security number, but not by hair color (can be dyed), name (can be changed) or age (changes all the time). Only with value objects should you compare the full state (all non-transient fields), otherwise check only what identifies the instance.
For your Person class:
public boolean equals(Object obj) {
// same instance
if (obj == this) {
return true;
}
// null
if (obj == null) {
return false;
}
// type
if (!getClass().equals(obj.getClass())) {
return false;
}
// cast and compare state
Person other = (Person) obj;
return Objects.equals(name, other.name) && Objects.equals(age, other.age);
}
Reusable, generic utility class:
public final class Equals {
private Equals() {
// private constructor, no instances allowed
}
/**
* Convenience equals implementation, does the object equality, null and type checking, and comparison of the identifying state
*
* #param instance object instance (where the equals() is implemented)
* #param other other instance to compare to
* #param stateAccessors stateAccessors for state to compare, optional
* #param <T> instance type
* #return true when equals, false otherwise
*/
public static <T> boolean as(T instance, Object other, Function<? super T, Object>... stateAccessors) {
if (instance == null) {
return other == null;
}
if (instance == other) {
return true;
}
if (other == null) {
return false;
}
if (!instance.getClass().equals(other.getClass())) {
return false;
}
if (stateAccessors == null) {
return true;
}
return Stream.of(stateAccessors).allMatch(s -> Objects.equals(s.apply(instance), s.apply((T) other)));
}
}
For your Person class, using this utility class:
public boolean equals(Object obj) {
return Equals.as(this, obj, t -> t.name, t -> t.age);
}
Since I'm guessing age is of type int:
public boolean equals(Object other){
boolean result;
if((other == null) || (getClass() != other.getClass())){
result = false;
} // end if
else{
People otherPeople = (People)other;
result = name.equals(otherPeople.name) && age == otherPeople.age;
} // end else
return result;
} // end equals
if age is int you should use == if it is Integer object then you can use equals().
You also need to implement hashcode method if you override equals. Details of the contract is available in the javadoc of Object and also at various pages in web.
tl;dr
record Person ( String name , int age ) {}
if(
new Person( "Carol" , 27 ) // Compiler auto-generates implicitly the constructor.
.equals( // Compiler auto-generates implicitly the `equals` method.
new Person( "Carol" , 42 )
)
) // Returns `false`, as the name matches but the age differs.
{ … }
Details
While your specific problem is solved (using == for equality test between int primitive values), there is an alternative that eliminates the need to write that code.
record
Java 16 brings the record feature.
A record is a brief way to write a class whose main purpose is to transparently and immutably carry data. The compiler implicitly creates the constructor, getters, equals & hashCode, and toString.
equals method provided automatically
The default implicit equals method compares each and every member field that you declared for the record. The members can be objects or primitives, both types are automatically compared in the default equals method.
For example, if you have a Person record carrying two fields, name & age, both of those fields are automatically compared to determine equality between a pair of Person objects.
public record Person ( String name , int age ) {}
Try it.
Person alice = new Person( "Alice" , 23 ) ;
Person alice2 = new Person( "Alice" , 23 ) ;
Person bob = new Person( "Bob" , 19 ) ;
boolean samePerson1 = alice.equals( alice2 ) ; // true.
boolean samePerson2 = alice.equals( bob ) ; // false.
You can override the equals method on a record, if you want a behavior other than the default. But if you do override equals, be sure to override hashCode for consistent logic, as you would for a conventional Java class. And, think twice: Whenever adding methods to a record, reconsider if a record structure is really appropriate to that problem domain.
Tip: A record can be defined within another class, and even locally within a method.
Here is the solution that I recently used:
public class Test {
public String a;
public long b;
public Date c;
public String d;
#Override
public boolean equals(Object obj) {
if (this == obj) {
return true;
}
if (!(obj instanceof Test)) {
return false;
}
Test testOther = (Test) obj;
return (a != null ? a.equals(testOther.a) : testOther.a == null)
&& (b == testOther.b)
&& (c != null ? c.equals(testOther.c) : testOther.c == null)
&& (d != null ? d.equals(testOther.d) : testOther.d == null);
}
}
For lazy programmers: lombok library is very easy and time saving. please have a look at this link
instead of writing lines of codes and rules, you just need to apply this library in your IDE and then just #Data and it is Done.
import lombok.Data;
#Data // this is the magic word :D
public class pojo {
int price;
String currency;
String productName;
}
in fact in the above code, #Data is a shortcut for
import lombok.Data;
import lombok.EqualsAndHashCode;
import lombok.Getter;
import lombok.Setter;
import lombok.ToString;
#Getter
#Setter
#EqualsAndHashCode
#ToString
//or instead of all above #Data
public class pojo {
int price;
String currency;
String productName;
}
I constructed a class with one String field. Then I created two objects and I have to compare them using == operator and .equals() too. Here's what I've done:
public class MyClass {
String a;
public MyClass(String ab) {
a = ab;
}
public boolean equals(Object object2) {
if(a == object2) {
return true;
}
else return false;
}
public boolean equals2(Object object2) {
if(a.equals(object2)) {
return true;
}
else return false;
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
MyClass object1 = new MyClass("test");
MyClass object2 = new MyClass("test");
object1.equals(object2);
System.out.println(object1.equals(object2));
object1.equals2(object2);
System.out.println(object1.equals2(object2));
}
}
After compile it shows two times false as a result. Why is it false if the two objects have the same fields - "test"?
== compares object references, it checks to see if the two operands point to the same object (not equivalent objects, the same object).
If you want to compare strings (to see if they contain the same characters), you need to compare the strings using equals.
In your case, if two instances of MyClass really are considered equal if the strings match, then:
public boolean equals(Object object2) {
return object2 instanceof MyClass && a.equals(((MyClass)object2).a);
}
...but usually if you are defining a class, there's more to equivalency than the equivalency of a single field (a in this case).
Side note: If you override equals, you almost always need to override hashCode. As it says in the equals JavaDoc:
Note that it is generally necessary to override the hashCode method whenever this method is overridden, so as to maintain the general contract for the hashCode method, which states that equal objects must have equal hash codes.
You should override equals
public boolean equals (Object obj) {
if (this==obj) return true;
if (this == null) return false;
if (this.getClass() != obj.getClass()) return false;
// Class name is Employ & have lastname
Employe emp = (Employee) obj ;
return this.lastname.equals(emp.getlastname());
}
The best way to compare 2 objects is by converting them into json strings and compare the strings, its the easiest solution when dealing with complicated nested objects, fields and/or objects that contain arrays.
sample:
import com.google.gson.Gson;
Object a = // ...;
Object b = //...;
String objectString1 = new Gson().toJson(a);
String objectString2 = new Gson().toJson(b);
if(objectString1.equals(objectString2)){
//do this
}
The overwrite function equals() is wrong.
The object "a" is an instance of the String class and "object2" is an instance of the MyClass class. They are different classes, so the answer is "false".
It looks like equals2 is just calling equals, so it will give the same results.
Your equals2() method always will return the same as equals() !!
Your code with my comments:
public boolean equals2(Object object2) { // equals2 method
if(a.equals(object2)) { // if equals() method returns true
return true; // return true
}
else return false; // if equals() method returns false, also return false
}
The "==" operator returns true only if the two references pointing to the same object in memory. The equals() method on the other hand returns true based on the contents of the object.
Example:
String personalLoan = new String("cheap personal loans");
String homeLoan = new String("cheap personal loans");
//since two strings are different object result should be false
boolean result = personalLoan == homeLoan;
System.out.println("Comparing two strings with == operator: " + result);
//since strings contains same content , equals() should return true
result = personalLoan.equals(homeLoan);
System.out.println("Comparing two Strings with same content using equals method: " + result);
homeLoan = personalLoan;
//since both homeLoan and personalLoan reference variable are pointing to same object
//"==" should return true
result = (personalLoan == homeLoan);
System.out.println("Comparing two reference pointing to same String with == operator: " + result);
Output:
Comparing two strings with == operator: false
Comparing two Strings with same content using equals method: true
Comparing two references pointing to same String with == operator: true
You can also get more details from the link: http://javarevisited.blogspot.in/2012/12/difference-between-equals-method-and-equality-operator-java.html?m=1
Statements a == object2 and a.equals(object2) both will always return false because a is a string while object2 is an instance of MyClass
Your implementation must like:
public boolean equals2(Object object2) {
if(a.equals(object2.a)) {
return true;
}
else return false;
}
With this implementation your both methods would work.
If you dont need to customize the default toString() function, another way is to override toString() method, which returns all attributes to be compared. then compare toString() output of two objects. I generated toString() method using IntelliJ IDEA IDE, which includes class name in the string.
public class Greeting {
private String greeting;
#Override
public boolean equals(Object obj) {
if (this == obj) return true;
return this.toString().equals(obj.toString());
}
#Override
public String toString() {
return "Greeting{" +
"greeting='" + greeting + '\'' +
'}';
}
}
Your class might implement the Comparable interface to achieve the same functionality. Your class should implement the compareTo() method declared in the interface.
public class MyClass implements Comparable<MyClass>{
String a;
public MyClass(String ab){
a = ab;
}
// returns an int not a boolean
public int compareTo(MyClass someMyClass){
/* The String class implements a compareTo method, returning a 0
if the two strings are identical, instead of a boolean.
Since 'a' is a string, it has the compareTo method which we call
in MyClass's compareTo method.
*/
return this.a.compareTo(someMyClass.a);
}
public static void main(String[] args){
MyClass object1 = new MyClass("test");
MyClass object2 = new MyClass("test");
if(object1.compareTo(object2) == 0){
System.out.println("true");
}
else{
System.out.println("false");
}
}
}
the return type of object.equals is already boolean.
there's no need to wrap it in a method with branches. so if you want to compare 2 objects simply compare them:
boolean b = objectA.equals(objectB);
b is already either true or false.
When we use == , the Reference of object is compared not the actual objects. We need to override equals method to compare Java Objects.
Some additional information C++ has operator over loading & Java does not provide operator over loading.
Also other possibilities in java are implement Compare Interface .which defines a compareTo method.
Comparator interface is also used compare two objects
Here the output will be false , false beacuse in first sopln statement you are trying to compare a string type varible of Myclass type to the other MyClass type and it will allow because of both are Object type and you have used "==" oprerator which will check the reference variable value holding the actual memory not the actual contnets inside the memory .
In the second sopln also it is the same as you are again calling a.equals(object2) where a is a varible inside object1 . Do let me know your findings on this .
In short, == compares two POINTERS.
If the two pointers are equal, then they both point to same object in memory (which, obviously has the same value as itself).
However, .equals will compare the VALUES of whatever is pointed to, returning true iff they both evaluate to the same value.
Thus, two separate strings (i.e., at different addresses in memory) are always != but are .equal iff they contain the same (null-terminated) sequence of chars.
IN the below code you are calling the overriden method .equals().
public boolean equals2(Object object2) {
if(a.equals(object2)) { // here you are calling the overriden method, that is why you getting false 2 times.
return true;
}
else return false;
}
I know this is the duplicate question but that question was not asked correctly so I did not the get the answer.
But I was being asked this question in one interview.
I want to know is it possible? If yes, can anyone provide me the code how?
Thanks in advance.
StringBuilder does this as it's mutable. The contents are not considered, only whether the objects are the same.
StringBuilder a = new StringBuilder();
StringBuilder b = new StringBuilder();
a.equals(b); // false as they are not the same object.
This is also true of all arrays which are objects
int[] a = {};
int[] b = {};
a.equals(b); // false, not the same object.
Arrays.equals(a, b); // true, contents are the same.
In java the method public boolean equals(Object obj) is inherited from the Object.class. Since all Java objects inherit (eventually) from Object, they all inherit that method as well. However, the implementation of the method as defined in the Object class is that the equals method will return if and only if the two objects being compared are the same instance.
public class WrappedString {
private final String str = "hello";
}
public void foo() {
WrappedString ws1 = new WrappedString();
WrappedString ws2 = new WrappedString();
System.out.println(ws1.equals(ws2));
}
The output of the above code snippet will be false since ws1 will only be equal to itself (e.g. other references to the same instance since equals is not overridden).
Yes, if you have a bad implementation of equals.
public boolean equals(Object o){
return false;
}
For instance, or, if they don't have the exact same type:
public boolean equals(Object o){
// o is an instance of a parent class, with exactly the same content. bad design, but possible.
if ( o == null ){
return false;
}
if ( !o.getClass().equals(this.getClass()){ // or a similar check
return false;
}
Child ot = (Child)o;
return this.content.equals(ot.getContent());
}
Yes. You can also override the equals() method and play with it.
class Person {
private String Name;
public Person(String name){
this.name = name;
}
#Override
public boolean equals(Object that){
if(this == that) return false; //return false if the same address
if(!(that instanceof People)) return true; //return true if not the same
People thatPeople = (People)that;
return !this.name.equals(thatPeople.name); //return false if the same name.
}
}
I have read about the equals() method in java. I've heard that it compares based just on value. But then why is it returning false for my case below where the value is the same but the types are different?
public class test {
public static void main(String[] args)
{
String s1="compare";
StringBuffer s2=new StringBuffer("compare");
System.out.println(s1.equals(s2)); //false
}
}
A String instance cannot be equal to a StringBuffer instance.
Look at the implementation :
public boolean equals(Object anObject) {
if (this == anObject) {
return true;
}
if (anObject instanceof String) { // this condition will be false in your case
String anotherString = (String)anObject;
int n = count;
if (n == anotherString.count) {
char v1[] = value;
char v2[] = anotherString.value;
int i = offset;
int j = anotherString.offset;
while (n-- != 0) {
if (v1[i++] != v2[j++])
return false;
}
return true;
}
}
return false;
}
In theory you can have an equals implementation that may return true when comparing two objects not of the same class (not in the String class though), but I can't think of a situation where such an implementation would make sense.
String is different from StringBuffer. Use toString() to convert it to a String.
String s1="compare";
StringBuffer s2=new StringBuffer("compare");
System.out.println(s1.equals(s2.toString()));
Yes Eran is right you can't compair two diffrent objects using equals . If you really wants to do that then use toString() on StringBuffer
System.out.println(s1.equals(s2.toString()));
The equals() method belongs to Object.
From the Java docs for Object
Indicates whether some other object is "equal to" this one.
So basically:
The equals method for class Object implements the most discriminating
possible equivalence relation on objects; that is, for any non-null
reference values x and y, this method returns true if and only if x
and y refer to the same object (x == y has the value true).
If you have a String and a StringBuffer they would not be equal to each other.
They might have the same value, but they aren't equal, have a look at the instanceOf() method.