The equals() Method

You have previously seen the equals( String ) method of class String.

The equals( String ) method of class String tests if two Strings contain the same characters.

The equals( String ) method looks at objects. It detects equivalence. The == operator detects identity. For example,

String strA; // first object String strB; // second object strA = new String( "The Gingham Dog" ); strB = new String( "The Gingham Dog" ); if ( strA.equals( strB ) ) System.out.println( "This WILL print."); if ( strA == strB ) System.out.println( "This will NOT print.");

In this example, there are two objects. Each object has its own identity, so == reports false. Each object contains equivalent data, so equals() reports true.