Comparing strings in an if: !string.equals("") vs !"".equals(string) [duplicate]

Question

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Difference between these two conditions?

I am doing some code cleanup and NetBeans made a suggestion to change

if(!billAddress1.equals("")) to if (!"".equals(billAddress1)).

What is the difference between the two, and the advantages of using the suggested version over the readability of the original version?

Answer 1

billAddress1.equals("") will cause a NullPointerException if billAddress1 is null, "".equals(billAddress1) wont.

Answer 2

// Could cause a NullPointerException if billAddress1 is null
if(!billAddress1.equals(""))

// Will not cause a NullPointerException if billAddress1 is null
if (!"".equals(billAddress1))