String query

[pankaj kapoor]

String s = new String("abc");
String b = new String("abc");
if(s==b )
System.out.println("equal");

String s1 = "abc";
String b1 = "abc";
if(s1==b1 )
System.out.println("equal String");

In the above code s1==b1 prints "equal String"
while s==b does not print "equal"

could anyone explain to me the reason for this .
Thanks in advance

[Craig Tyler]

== tests if the objects being compared are actually the same object. In your example, s and b are different objects with the same contents, so while they pass the equals() test because they have the same contents, they produce false when using ==.

s1 and b1 both refer to the same object in the string literal pool, so they pass both == and equals().

[Christophe Verré]

"new" will create to new objects, that is why "==" returns false.

However, using "=" will get an existing object from the pool, or create a new one if it does not exist. There is already a String whose value is "abc", so it will return the same reference to that String. Same reference, means that "==" will return true.