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Strings in Java : equals vs ==
Comparing strings in java
is == can be apply to Strings ?
if so then what is the use of it for String's data type?
in other words although we should use equal method for comparing two string java, what is the use of == operator for String in java?
== will not compare the value of the String but its addresse. If you want to compare the value use the method equals().
When you want to compare objects in Java, you should use the equals() method. The operator == is used to compare references, not values, in Java objects.
For example:
String s1 = "hello";
String s2 = new String("hello");
boolean comp = s1.equals(s2); // correct, returns true
comp = s1 == s2; // wrong, returns false
The '==' operator compares two Object references. So, in the case of two Strings, it is examining those objects, and seeing if they represent the same location in memory.
The .equals() method compares the Strings' contents to each other.
Comparing objects, == operator compares if the references are the same. In primitive types (int, float, double, boolean) it actually compares the value. Since Strings are objects, it's better to use the equals() method. == will compare if both references of strings are the same, which may not. equals() method is also used by Java Collections.
Related
This question already has answers here:
How do I compare strings in Java?
(23 answers)
Closed 8 years ago.
String str1 = "abc:5";
String str2 = "abc:" + str1.length();
String str3 = "abc:" + 5;
System.out.println(str1==str2);
System.out.println(str1==str3);
Output of the program is :
false
true
But I don't understand why?
== operator will compare reference only
.equals() will compare the values.
in your case
str1==str2 // compares the two references, which are different.
had it been, str1.equals(str2), it would have compared the values, which will return true
The “==” operator
In Java, when the “==” operator is used to compare 2 objects, it checks to see if the objects refer to the same place in memory. In other words, it checks to see if the 2 object names are basically references to the same memory location.The “==” operator compares the objects’ location(s) in memory
The “equals” method
The Java String class actually overrides the default equals() implementation in the Object class – and it overrides the method so that it checks only the values of the strings, not their locations in memory.
Here str1 = "abc:5"; is located in constant pool of string and str2 is concatenated with 2 different object with new operator. So both str1 and str2 are referring to different object. That's the reason it is showing false.
The == operator is used for only reference variables in java. For example if you are comparing characters a1 and a2 you can use the == operator because the char type is highlighted in most IDEs in Java. To check if two Strings are equal to each other you can use .equals()or .equalsIgnoreCase() to compare the Strings. This is because Strings are objects, not primitives, and require their own method in the class to test if Strings are the same.
For the first System.out.println(); statement, you would use System.out.println(str1.equals(str2)); or System.out.println(str1.equalsIgnoreCase(str2));.
For the second System.out.println(); statement, you would use System.out.println(str1.equals(str3)); or System.out.println(str1.equalsIgnoreCase(str3));.
This question already has answers here:
How do I compare strings in Java?
(23 answers)
Closed 8 years ago.
What is "==" in Java ? Why can i only compare numerical data type with it and characters can be compared. But not the string data types. What does it provide when i compare two strings?
== compares reference equality: it returns true if its operands have the same value on the stack. (that is, they are either the same numerical quantity or they point to the same object)
Strings are objects, so here we're asking whether they point to the same object on the stack. This will be true if we're talking about String literals defined in code:
If we have
String s1 = "Hello";
String s2 = "Hello";
then s1 == s2 => true
However, if one of the Strings is obtained by some run-time process, for example user input, then it will not be reference-identical, even if the contents of the two Strings are the same.
In Java == compare reference two reference value. If left side reference equals to right side reference will return true else false.
When you come to compare String(objects) you should use equals()
Why?
String a= new String("a");
String b= new String("a");
Here a and b are same by value but they have two different reference.
If you compare to objects (strings are objects) you will compare the reference of both objects.
The '==' operator in Java is used to compare similar variables (like an integer and another integer). For an over-complicated reason, Strings are considered 'Object' type variables. To compare strings use the operator variableString.equals(otherString);
This question already has answers here:
How do I compare strings in Java?
(23 answers)
Closed 9 years ago.
I'm reading about the notion of interned strings:
String s1 = "Hi";
String s2 = "Hi";
String s3 = new String("Hi");
System.out.println(s1 == s2); // true
System.out.println(s1 == s3); // false
System.out.println(s1.equals(s3)); //true
String is an object in Java, but the compiler allows us to use a literal for assigning to a String reference variable, instead of requiring us to use the new operator, because of the ubiquity of strings in programming. The use of the literal for assignments creates an interned string. All interned strings with the same literal point to the same space in memory, thus the equivalent operator is permitted.
It got me wondering, however: would it not be more proper to use the equals() method to compare two string reference variables, given that in Java strings are objects (and not arrays like in other languages) and the contents of objects should be compared using equals(), as the == operator in regards to objects only tells us that they point to the same spot in memory?
Or is it not more proper because the very concept of interned strings makes it clear that one String can only be equivalent (==) to another string if they share the same literal?
If it is more proper, do people commonly use the equals() method regardless, or is it considered overkill?
Yes equals is the method used to compare the contents of string objects. Using == we can only compare whether the two references point to the same memory location or not. But using equals you can check whether two references hold the same string content, be them at the same memory location or not. Logically speaking, when you are trying to compare two strings, you must be looking for comparing the contents of those strings and not the memory locations of them.
As a practice or almost everywhere string equals method is used for string comparision and not ==
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Possible Duplicate:
How do I compare strings in Java?
Java String.equals versus ==
I am new to Selenium and Java.
I have tried the below to compare the field value of last name to the one which i supplied.
String lastname=selenium.getValue("//*[#id='lastName']");
System.out.println(lastname);
assertTrue (lastname == "xxx");
It is keep on failing.
Just literally tried to change the last line with help of Eclipse (just trial and error)
assertTrue("lastname.equals("xxx"));
It is working fine... Why it is failed in first case? == is not allowed to compare strings?
Short answer: == checks for same object .equals checks for the same value.
More info in How do I compare strings in Java?
equals function checks the actual contents of the lastname. == operator checks whether the references to the objects are equal.
You must use equals() to compare strings with Java, as you guessed.
You're actually comparing pointers (or really reference equality) when you use == with strings. In other words you're testing if two objects are the same, rather than the content of the objects.
For comparing equality of string ,We Use equals() Method. There are two ways of comparison in java. One is "==" operator and another "equals()" method . "==" compares the reference value of string object whereas equals() method is present in the java.lang.Object class. This method compares content of the string object.
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Closed 10 years ago.
Possible Duplicate:
How do I compare strings in Java?
Someone can tell me why this condition
if (lista.getString(0)=="username")
do not return true? I've used to try
if (lista.getString(0)==lista.getString(0))
and dont work, and i have understand that is a language problem.
== tests for reference equality.
.equals tests for value equality.
Threfore you should use:
if (lista.getString(0).equals("username"))
See How do I compare strings in Java?
For String comparison always use equals().
if (lista.getString(0).equals("username"))
Using == , you will end up comparing references, not values.
A simple snippet to clarify further:
String s1 = "Hello";
String s2 = new String(s1);
System.out.println(s1.equals(s2)); // true because values are same
System.out.println((s1 == s2)); // false because they are different objects
From Java Techniques
Since Strings are objects, the equals(Object) method will return true if two Strings have
the same objects. The == operator will only be true if two String references point to the
same underlying String object. Hence two Strings representing the same content will be
equal when tested by the equals(Object) method, but will only be equal when tested with
the == operator if they are actually the same object.
Use
if (lista.getString(0).equals("username"))
The correct way to compare objects is with,
object1.equals(object2)
And String is an object in Java, so it implies same for String too
s1.equals(s2)
eg :
if (lista.getString(0).equals("username"))