If Statements with string values.

[crafty876]

Hello:

I am new to Java and am struggling with string values as variables... I have the following small class that just isn't working. My problem is that even when I enter "YES" or "NO", my return response is "Please Enter Yes or No". I suspect I am not using the readLine command correctly and the hard return is causing the problem but not sure.

Thanks for the help.

public void run(){
while(true){
println(respond(readLine("Would You Like Instructions?")));
}
}


private String respond(String str){
if(str=="YES"){return "Instructions";}
else if (str=="NO"){return "Ok";}
else {return "Please Enter Yes or No";}
}

[yellowledbet]

"==" compares object references.
equals() comapres the actual value of the string

try

if(str.equals("YES"))

[Norm]

You should use the equals() method to compare Strings, not the == operator.

[crafty876]

Thanks for the help, and the forum

Best regards,
Crafty

[stchman]

As a general rule, I only use == for comparing primitive data types (float, int, double, char, boolean, etc.) in Java. The .equals() method is for comparing Objects.

[DarrylBurke]

As a general rule, I only use == for comparing primitive data types (float, int, double, char, boolean, etc.) in Java. The .equals() method is for comparing Objects.

Don't forget that enum constants and indeed any static final constants can safely be compared using ==

There are also use cases where the identity, rather than the semantic equality is of interest.

db