Differences between "abc" + "de" and "abc" + de (de = "de") in Java?

Question

I run the following code and get the results shown in the comments. I know the differences between == and .equals(). What I don't understand is why my code in the second line has different results from the code in the third line.

    String de = "de";
//  String abcde = "abc" + "de"; // abcde == "abcde" reture true
    String abcde = "abc" + de;   // abcde == "abcde" reture false;
    System.out.println();
    System.out.println(abcde=="abcde");
    System.out.println(de=="de");

In trying to debug this I used the javap -c command and got the following output 'code' for the first string concatenation:

         Code:
 0:   ldc     #9; //String de
 2:   astore_1
 3:   new     #10; //class java/lang/StringBuilder
 6:   dup
 7:   invokespecial   #11; //Method java/lang/StringBuilder."<init>":()V
 10:  ldc     #4; //String abc
 12:  invokevirtual   #12; //Method java/lang/StringBuilder.append:(Ljava/lang
 String;)Ljava/lang/StringBuilder;
 15:  aload_1
 16:  invokevirtual   #12; //Method java/lang/StringBuilder.append:(Ljava/lang
 String;)Ljava/lang/StringBuilder;
   19:  invokevirtual   #13; //Method java/lang/StringBuilder.toString:()Ljava/l
 ng/String;
   22:  astore_2
   23:  getstatic       #14; //Field java/lang/System.out:Ljava/io/PrintStream;
   26:  invokevirtual   #15; //Method java/io/PrintStream.println:()V
   29:  getstatic       #14; //Field java/lang/System.out:Ljava/io/PrintStream;
   32:  aload_2
   33:  ldc     #16; //String abcde
   35:  if_acmpne       42
   38:  iconst_1
   39:  goto    43
   42:  iconst_0
   43:  invokevirtual   #17; //Method java/io/PrintStream.println:(Z)V
   46:  getstatic       #14; //Field java/lang/System.out:Ljava/io/PrintStream;
   49:  aload_1
   50:  ldc     #9; //String de
   52:  if_acmpne       59
   55:  iconst_1
   56:  goto    60
   59:  iconst_0
   60:  invokevirtual   #17; //Method java/io/PrintStream.println:(Z)V
   63:  return

And the output for the second string concatenation:

I am not so familiar with this 'code' and can't see any reason why these differences exists. So could anyone explain why those differences happen?

Related post

Answer 1

The "problem" is simply that the compiler is too smart for you. When it sees "abc" + "de" it immediately concatenates that into the literal "abcde". But when it sees "abc" + de it's not allowed (per Java rules) to "optimize" that to a literal but must instead implement the + function, creating a new String object.

String literals are always handled as interned Strings, so == will work on them.