In Java, the main difference between == and .equals() is the content of comparison: 1. == compares whether the object's reference points to the same memory address; 2. The default behavior of .equals() is the same as ==, but is usually rewritten to compare the content of the object. For example, the String class overrides .equals() to compare character sequences, and when using ==, it will return false due to different references. For basic types such as int, you can only use == for value comparison. In actual use, operators should be selected according to requirements: == when you need to determine whether two objects are the same instance, and .equals() when you need to compare logical values, and pay attention to handling null values to avoid exceptions.
In Java, the difference between ==
and .equals()
comes down to what they compare: one checks if two references point to the same object in memory, while the other checks if two objects are logically equal based on their content.

==
Compares References, Not Values
When you use ==
with objects in Java, it doesn't check the actual data inside the objects. Instead, it checks whether both variables refer to the exact same object in memory.

For example:
String a = new String("hello"); String b = new String("hello"); System.out.println(a == b); // false
Even though a
and b
both contain "hello", they are two separate objects created with new
, so ==
returns false
.

This behavior is especially important when working with custom objects. Unless two variables point to the very same instance, ==
will return false
.
.equals()
Compares Object Content (Usually)
The .equals()
method, by default, behaves the same as ==
. However, many classes — like String
, Integer
, and others — override this method to provide meaningful comparisons based on the internal state of the object.
Take this for example:
String a = new String("hello"); String b = new String("hello"); System.out.println(a.equals(b)); // true
Here, .equals()
compares the actual characters in the strings and returns true
because both have the same value.
But keep in mind:
- If a class hasn't overridden
.equals()
, it will still behave like==
. - For custom classes, you'll need to override
.equals()
yourself to get logical comparisons.
What About Primitive Types?
With primitive types like int
, double
, etc., there's no distinction — you always use ==
because primitives aren't objects.
int x = 5; int y = 5; System.out.println(x == y); // true
If you're using wrapper classes like Integer
, then again, you should prefer .equals()
for value comparison, unless you really want to check reference equality.
Practical Tips
-
Use
==
when:- Comparing primitive types.
- Checking if two references point to the exact same object.
-
Use
.equals()
when:- Comparing values of objects like
String
,Integer
, etc. - You want to know if two different objects represent the same logical value.
- Comparing values of objects like
-
Always be cautious with nulls:
-
someObject.equals(...)
can throw aNullPointerException
ifsomeObject
isnull
. - Consider using
Objects.equals(a, b)
fromjava.util
which safely handles nulls.
-
So the main thing to remember is:
==
checks where an object is (memory address), while .equals()
checks what the object contains (if implemented properly).
Basically that's it.
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