Q.Why should equals() be used instead of == to compare two strings? Illustrate with a short example.

The two operators compare different things — one the contents, the other the memory identity — so choosing wrong gives surprising results. …

The problem. A String is an object, and a string variable actually holds a reference (the location of that object in memory), not the text itself. This makes the two comparison operators behave differently:

• == checks whether two references point to the same object in memory.
• .equals() checks whether the two strings contain the same characters.

Example:

String a = new String("Odisha");
String b = new String("Odisha");

System.out.println(a == b);        // false  -> two different objects
System.out.println(a.equals(b));   // true   -> same contents

Explanation. a and b hold the same text, 'Odisha', but new String(...) creates two separate objects in memory. So a == b is false (different objects), while a.equals(b) is true (same characters). Since we almost always want to know whether the text matches, we use equals(). …

equalsIgnoreCase() compares contents while ignoring capital/small differences, useful for cas …

Using == for string comparison and assuming it works because it sometimes appears to (Java may reuse identical string literals). Relying on …