Comparing Strings

To compare two Strings...

• Do not use = = !  This compares the actual String objects, not the contents of those objects.  This will be of little use when comparing Strings.
• Example:

String a = "UC";
String b = "UC";
String c = "uc";
if (a = = b) {
// this statement will usually return false.  a and b are not the same object!
• Instead, use the equals() method of the String object if the case is equal, or equalsIgnoreCase() if the case does not matter..

if (a.equals(b)) {
// this will return true.
if (a.equals(c)) {
// This will return false, the case is different.
if (a.equalsIgnoreCase(c)) {
// This will return true.
if (a.equalsIgnoreCase(d)) {
// I put this in just to see if you were paying attention.
 

Created by:  Brandan Jones January 4, 2002