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Java Java Basics Perfecting the Prototype String Equality

Jay Lee
PLUS
Jay Lee
Courses Plus Student 196 Points
Posted by Jay Lee
Jay Lee
Courses Plus Student 196 Points

What should I put?

question: Add an if statement that checks to see if firstExample is equal to secondExample. If it is, print out "first is equal to second". what should i do?

Equality.java 
// I have imported a java.io.Console for you, it is named console. 
String firstExample = "hello";
String secondExample = "hello";
String thirdExample = "HELLO";

if (firstExample = secondExample) {
  console.printf("first is equal to second\n");

1 Answer

Steve Hunter
Steve Hunter
57,712 Points

Hi Jay,

You should compare for equality of a string using the .equals() method. For other datatypes you can compare with a double-equals, ==, but not for Strings. Use dot notation on the first string variable and pass in the second string variable as the parameter to the .equals() method, i.e. put the second variable name inside the parentheses.

You also need to close your curly braces after the semi-colon.

Try something like:

if (firstExample.equals(secondExample)){
  console.printf("first is equal to second\n");
}

I hope that helps,

Steve.