srting doubt on ==

[Ramakrishna Konanki]

class StringTest
{
public static void main(String[] args)
{
String s1 = new String("change me");
String s2 = new String("change me");
System.out.println(s1==s2);
String s3 = "change me";
System.out.println(s1==s3);
String s4 = "change me";
System.out.println(s3==s4);
String s5 = "change "+"me";
System.out.println(s4==s5);
String s6 = "change ";
String s7 = s6 + "me";
System.out.println(s4==s7);
final String s8 = "change ";
String s9 = s8 + "me";
System.out.println(s4==s9);
}
}

output
-------
false
false
true
true
false
true

here s7=s6+"me";
s4 and s7 are equal but it is showing false...why...

one of my friend told s7 stores in heap.....
my doubt is s7 is normal variable....how it is going to store in heap

[Hauke Ingmar Schmidt]

What does the == operator do?

What is a String? Where in memory does it live?

What do you want to do with the two Strings?

Is what you want to do the same thing the == operator does?

[Seetharaman Venkatasamy]

Ramakrishna wrote:
here s7=s6+"me";
s4 and s7 are equal but it is showing false...why...

one of my friend told s7 stores in heap.....

your friend is right. the above statement is interpreted by compiler as

   
 String s7 = (new StringBuilder(String.valueOf(s6))).append("me").toString();

here, you are creating a new String.

hth

[Bobby Smallman]

http://leepoint.net/notes-java/data/expressions/22compareobjects.html

[Ramakrishna Konanki]

What does the == operator do?
== operator compares two references of a string.

What is a String? Where in memory does it live?
String is a set/combinations of characters.

String s; s="ab"; //this will store in stack
String s= new String("ab"); //this will store in heap
.............
this is my expectation
.................

What do you want to do with the two Strings?
just i want to compare two strings.

Is what you want to do the same thing the == operator does?
String s4 = "change me";
String s5 = "change "+"me";

s4==s5
the result is true..

my doubt is
String s6 = "change ";
String s7 = s6+"me";
s4==s7
should be true....
but it is getting false....what would be the reason.......

[Hauke Ingmar Schmidt]

Bobby Smallman wrote:http://leepoint.net/notes-java/data/expressions/22compareobjects.html

Thank you for pointing to this. It can be really helpful - even if I quite don't like the first line for == and objects: "Compares references, not values." (in bold!). Hm... == compares values here, too. The values of the two references. (And next in this cinema: Does Java "call by value" or "call by reference, sometimes" ).

[Hauke Ingmar Schmidt]

Ramakrishna wrote:What does the == operator do?
== operator compares two references of a string.

Generally speaking, it compares two primitive values. If the type is int, the primitive value itself represents the value, so it this is the same as a comparision of the contents (i.e 4==5 is a comparision of primitive types).

When used with objects it is like the identity operator. When used with reference variables it checks if both point to the same object (i.e. "object at heap position 4"=="object at heap position 5").

What is a String? Where in memory does it live?
String is a set/combinations of characters.

String s; s="ab"; //this will store in stack
String s= new String("ab"); //this will store in heap
.............
this is my expectation
.................

Ah, you are wrong here.

My question was pointing at the nature of String. Look at the Javadocs: java.lang.String. A String is an java.lang.Object.

This is true for every String, regardless of how it was created.

String s="ab"; could be seen just a shortcut for s=new String("ab"); Strings are often used, so they have some extra syntax, that other objects don't have. You can add two String objects with +. That is operator overloading, not possible for other objects.

And now the catch: s="ab" does a little more magic than only replace it with s=new String("ab"), which is where you problems occur.

What do you want to do with the two Strings?
just i want to compare two strings.

You want to compare the content. You don't want to check the identity. And as we saw == used on Objects is the identity operator. Strings are always Objects.

my doubt is
String s6 = "change ";
String s7 = s6+"me";
s4==s7
should be true....
but it is getting false....what would be the reason.......

And this is where the magic I mentioned before kicks in.

The Java virtual machine holds a cache for Strings. If you do a:

String a = "one";
String b = "one";

than there will be no object created for the second String. It will be reused from the cache. So a and b point to the same object, the identity operator seems to work.

When doing

String a = new String("one");
String b = new String("one");
String c = "on"+"e";

new objects will be created. The Strings have equal contents, but they are different objects.

In consequence: When you want to compare the contents of two Strings, never use ==, only use the equals method.

[Sudipta Laha]

Hi,,

There are two places one stringpool and the other is the string object in heap.

Now when we use

String s1="a";

a is stored in stringpool.
But now if we create

String s2="a";

It will point to the same string pool object. And the == is true as references are true.

Now lets take two other conditions:

String s1=new String("a");
String s2=new String("a");

there will be two objects created in heap for the new operator, So == will return false as references are not same.

One intern() method is there , it will return a object from global string pool. and the == will be true in that case (in your situation).

[Raymond Tong]

Try to run

javap -c YourClass

and you would know how the code will be compiled and made the differences.

[Campbell Ritchie]

"Ramakrishna" it is not possible to send you a private message to warn you about the naming policy, but you are still in violation of it.
Correct your displayed name to match the policy, or we shall withdraw your privilege of using this website.

[Ninad Kuchekar]

Hi Ramakrishna,

Please have a look at this.

[Shanky Sohar]

"==" will check whether two reference type point to a same object or not.

[Ramakrishna Konanki]

sorry for voilating rules.
could you please explain the naming policy rules....

Campbell Ritchie wrote:"Ramakrishna" it is not possible to send you a private message to warn you about the naming policy, but you are still in violation of it.
Correct your displayed name to match the policy, or we shall withdraw your privilege of using this website.