Does Java 7 switch statement with String use equals() method?

Question

Java 7 supports switching with Strings like the code below

switch (month.toLowerCase()) { case "january":     monthNumber = 1;     break; case "february":     monthNumber = 2;     break; default:      monthNumber = 0;     break; } 

Does Java call the equals() method on each String case? Or it relies on == or intern()?

Is this simply equivalent to:

String month = month.toLowerCase(); if("january".equals(month)){ monthNumber = 1; }else if("february".equals(month)){ monthNumber = 1; }.. 

UPDATE:

The String in the switch expression is compared with the expressions associated with each case label as if the String.equals method were being used.

As the docs point out that the behavior is as if equals() is called.

Answer 1

The docs say

The String in the switch expression is compared with the expressions associated with each case label as if the String.equals method were being used. 

Since it says as if my guess would be it does not though the internal implementation would be the same as .equals() method.

Answer 2

The Java 7 switch statement actually generates bytecode that uses both the hashCode() and equals() methods. The hash code is used to generate faster switch lookups; i.e. to avoid a chain of equals checks like you would get with an if-else chain.