why 2 objects of Integer class in Java cannot be equal

Question

my code is:

public class Box
{
  public static void main(String[] args)
  {
     Integer z = new Integer(43);
     z++;

     Integer h = new Integer(44);

     System.out.println("z == h -> " + (h == z ));
  }
}

Output:-

z == h -> false

why the output is false when the values of both the objects is equal?

Is there any other way in which we can make the objects equal?

Answer 1

No. Use h.equals(z) instead of h == z to get the equality behavior you expect.

Answer 2

h == z would work only if you assign the value via auto-boxing (i.e Integer a = 43) and the value is in between -128 and 127 (cached values), i.e:

 Integer a = 44;
 Integer b = 44;

 System.out.println("a == b -> " + (a == b));

OUTPUT:

a == b -> true

---

If the value is out of the range [-128, 127], then it returns false

 Integer a = 1000;
 Integer b = 1000;

 System.out.println("a == b -> " + (a == b));

OUTPUT:

a == b -> false

---

However, the right way to compare two objects is to use Integer.equals() method.