String Comparison

In Java, comparing strings is different from comparing numbers. While you can use <, >, ==, etc., for numbers, strings require different methods because they are objects, not primitive.

The most common and correct way to compare if two strings have the same content is using the equals() method:

String str1 = "hello";
String str2 = "hello";
String str3 = "Hello";

boolean result1 = str1.equals(str2);  // true
boolean result2 = str1.equals(str3);  // false (case-sensitive)

Using equalsIgnoreCase() If you want to compare strings without considering upper/lower case:

String str1 = "Hello";
String str2 = "hello";

boolean result = str1.equalsIgnoreCase(str2);  // true

Many beginners try to use == to compare strings, but this is usually wrong:

String str1 = "hello";
String str2 = "hello";

boolean result = (str1 == str2); 

Don't comapre string with the == sign!