Interview Question

== vs equals()?

== checks reference identity; equals can define logical equality.

💡 Concept ✅ Quick Revision ☕ Java

Answer

The == operator and equals method test different forms of equality for references. • For references, == tests whether both operands refer to the same object or are both null. • equals performs class-defined logical equality. • The default Object.equals implementation is identity equality.

Example

Code

String first = new String("Java");
String second = new String("Java");
System.out.println(first == second);
System.out.println(first.equals(second));

Output

false
true

Quick Revision

== checks reference identity; equals can define logical equality.

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