The equals()
method returns true
if two strings are equal. If not, it returns false
.
Example
class Main {
public static void main(String[] args) {
String str1 = "Learn Java";
String str2 = "Learn Java";
// comparing str1 with str2
boolean result = str1.equals(str2);
System.out.println(result);
}
}
// Output: true
Syntax of equals()
The syntax of the String equals()
method is:
string.equals(String str)
Here, string is an object of the String
class.
equals() Parameters
The equals()
method takes a single parameter.
- str - the string to be compared
equals() Return Value
- returns true if the strings are equal
- returns false if the strings are not equal
- returns false if the str argument is
null
Example: Java String equals()
class Main {
public static void main(String[] args) {
String str1 = "Learn Java";
String str2 = "Learn Java";
String str3 = "Learn Kolin";
boolean result;
// comparing str1 with str2
result = str1.equals(str2);
System.out.println(result); // true
// comparing str1 with str3
result = str1.equals(str3);
System.out.println(result); // false
// comparing str3 with str1
result = str3.equals(str1);
System.out.println(result); // false
}
}
Here,
- str1 and str2 are equal. Hence,
str1.equals(str2)
returnstrue
. - str1 and str3 are not equal. Hence,
str1.equals(str3)
andstr3.equals(str1)
returnsfalse
.
Example 2: Check if Two Strings are Equal
class Main {
public static void main(String[] args) {
String str1 = "Learn Python";
String str2 = "Learn Java";
// if str1 and str2 are equal, the result is true
if (str1.equals(str2)) {
System.out.println("str1 and str2 are equal");
}
else {
System.out.println("str1 and str2 are not equal");
}
}
}
Output
str1 and str2 are not equal
Example 3: equals() With Case
The equals()
method takes the letter case (uppercase and lowercase) into consideration.
class Main {
public static void main(String[] args) {
String str1 = "Learn Java";
String str2 = "learn Java";
Boolean result;
// comparing str1 with str2
result = str1.equals(str2);
System.out.println(result); // false
}
}
When "Learn Java"
is compared to "learn Java"
, we get false
. It is because equals()
takes the letter case into consideration.
Notes:
- If you need to compare two strings ignoring case differences, use the Java String compareToIgnoreCase() method.
- The
equals()
method is available for all Java objects (not only Strings). It is because theequals()
method is also defined in theObject
class (which is the superclass of all Java classes).
Related Tutorial: Java String compareTo()