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If I try to do a .equals() on a null string in java, a null pointer exception will be thrown. I am wondering, if I am trying to compare if a string is equal to some constant string, can I do the following:
MY_CONSTANT_STRING.equals(aStringVariable)
I know it will work, but is this just really poor code?
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equals() method for content comparison. In simple words, == checks if both objects point to the same memory location whereas . equals() evaluates to the comparison of values in the objects.
== should be used during reference comparison. == checks if both references points to same location or not. equals() method should be used for content comparison. equals() method evaluates the content to check the equality.
The 2 main differences are that: equals will take any Object as a parameter, but compareTo will only take Strings. equals only tells you whether they're equal or not, but compareTo gives information on how the Strings compare lexicographically.
Method 2: Using equals() method In Java, string equals() method compares the two given strings based on the data / content of the string. If all the contents of both the strings are same then it returns true. If all characters are not matched then it returns false.
This is a standard Java idiom jokingly called a Yoda condition.
Personally I prefer to handle the null case explicitly, but the Yoda way is used a lot and any experienced Java programmer should be able to understand what is going on immediately. It's fine to use.
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