Java 25 (LTS) reference · String Methods

Java String equals() Method

Compare the contents of two strings. Never use == for strings: it compares object identity, not text.

Java 25 (LTS) Since Java 1.0

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Syntax

string.equals(other)

Parameters

Parameter	Description
`other` Object	The object to compare with.

Return value

true if the text is the same.

Examples

equals() vs ==

public class Main {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        String a = "java";
        String b = new String("java");
        System.out.println(a == b);        // different objects
        System.out.println(a.equals(b));   // same text
        System.out.println(a.equalsIgnoreCase("JAVA"));
    }
}

Output

false
true
true

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Null-safe comparisons

public class Main {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        String input = null;
        System.out.println("yes".equals(input));   // safe: no NullPointerException
        System.out.println(java.util.Objects.equals(input, null));
    }
}