String Comparison

Strings class implements Comparable.

1. equals() method (authentication)

• Two variants
  • public boolean equals (Object another)
  • public boolean equalsIgnoreCase (String another)
• Function Compares original content of the String

2. == operator (reference matching)

Compares references not values

3. compareTo() method (sorting)

• Compares lexicographically (dictionary)
• Returns integer value based on the comparison
• s1.compareTo(s2)
  • s1 == s2 ⇒ 0
  • s1 > s2 ⇒ +ve value
  • s1 < s2 ⇒ -ve value