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Introduction to Java

Comparing Strings in Java

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Comparison is where Java starts to behave a bit more "low-level" than expected. It feels obvious that strings could be compared the same way as numbers — using ==. After all, if two strings look identical, why wouldn't they be equal?

The Problem with ==

If you use == with string literals, it seems to work fine at first:

Main.java

Main.java


              
1234567891011

            
package com.example;

public class Main {
   public static void main(String[] args) {

       String order1 = "Latte";
       String order2 = "Latte";

       System.out.println(order1 == order2);
   }
}

Both variables point to the same object in Java's internal string pool — when the same literal appears again, Java reuses the existing one. So == returns true.

But now let's slightly change how the strings are created:

Main.java

Main.java


              
1234567891011

            
package com.example;

public class Main {
   public static void main(String[] args) {

       String order1 = new String("Latte");
       String order2 = new String("Latte");

       System.out.println(order1 == order2);
   }
}

Using new String() tells Java to create a completely separate object each time — even if the content is identical. Since == compares memory addresses, not text, it returns false.

The key rule: == does not look at the text inside the string — it checks whether both variables point to the exact same object in memory.

equals() — Compare Actual Content

If you need to compare the actual text inside two strings, use .equals(). It ignores memory completely and focuses only on the characters:

Main.java

Main.java


              
1234567891011

            
package com.example;

public class Main {
   public static void main(String[] args) {

       String order1 = new String("Latte");
       String order2 = new String("Latte");

       System.out.println(order1.equals(order2));
   }
}

Even though order1 and order2 are separate objects in memory, .equals() compares their content and returns true.

Case Sensitivity with equals()

Java is case-sensitive, so even one letter difference in casing makes strings unequal:

Main.java

Main.java


              
1234567891011

            
package com.example;

public class Main {
   public static void main(String[] args) {

       String order1 = "Latte";
       String order2 = "latte";

       System.out.println(order1.equals(order2));
   }
}

"Latte" and "latte" are treated as different strings, so the result is false.

equalsIgnoreCase() — Compare Without Caring About Case

If you need to compare strings but want to ignore uppercase/lowercase differences, use .equalsIgnoreCase():

Main.java

Main.java


              
12345678910

            
package com.example;

public class Main {
   public static void main(String[] args) {

       String order = "Latte";

       System.out.println(order.equalsIgnoreCase("LATTE"));
   }
}

.equalsIgnoreCase() treats "Latte" and "LATTE" as identical and returns true.

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What does == compare when used with Strings in Java?

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Section 4. Chapter 5

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Section 4. Chapter 5
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