== is same as .equals()??

[DrMath]

== is same as .equals() ??

Hi, i not sure how are they different?
Understanding now is that one looks in deeper when doing the compare?
Any good examples i can reference?

[pbrockway2]

Equality - as Orwell famously observed - is a matter of interpretation.

Say you found a $100 note in the street and, the next day, found the same thing. Are they really "the same"? Mostly we would say they are: they both have the same value and all that matters with banknotes is that value. They are equal.

Not so if were worried about the actual - physical - bank notes themselves. If they were stolen in a robbery, say. Then it might be very significant if a $100 note spent by a "suspect" as "the same as" one of the stolen ones.

In general the class itself will define what "equality" - or being the same - means. It does this with its .equals() method.

== tests whether two references refer to the same object in a very strong sense: that of identity. If the objects were created with different uses of "new" then they will not compare equal with ==. This test has nothing to do with what the type itself defines equality to be.