Android intent.getStringExtra() weird behaviour

Question

I am passing String extra's to an Intent which is sent to a BroadCastReceiver, and fetching them like:

public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
    if (intent.hasExtra("type")){
        Log.i("Listener", ":"+intent.getStringExtra("type")+":");

        if (intent.getStringExtra("type") == "start"){  
            Log.i("Listener", "start");
        }
        if (intent.getStringExtra("type") == "end"){    
            Log.i("Listener", "end");
        }
    }
}//end method

this code gives me the following output (as expected):

07-22 10:41:00.038: I/Listener(28678): :start:

What's not expected is that the second if statement never matches, even though type is clearly set correctly. I have seen this a couple of times, and it really is annoying me. This behaviour seems weird, as far as I can tell, I am approaching this in the right way.

Anyone got any ideas?

score 3 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 10:09

3

For String comparison use equals() and not ==.

Change:

if (intent.getStringExtra("type") == "start")
{  
      Log.i("Listener", "start");
}
if (intent.getStringExtra("type") == "end")
{    
     Log.i("Listener", "end");
}

to

if (intent.getStringExtra("type").equals("start")){  
            Log.i("Listener", "start");
        }
        if (intent.getStringExtra("type").equals("end")){    
            Log.i("Listener", "end");
        }

Read this for further info.

edited May 23 '17 at 10:09

Community

1
1

answered Jul 22 '12 at 08:49

Kazekage Gaara

14,972
14
61
108

can't accept yet, but this does the trick. I feel like such a noob now, lol. Thanks for the help. – slinden77 Jul 22 '12 at 08:56

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 22 '12 at 08:51

2

String is not a primitive data type, so you cannot use the == operator to compare two of them. Instead, try using:

if (intent.getStringExtra("type").equals("start")){

and

if (intent.getStringExtra("type").equals("end")){

answered Jul 22 '12 at 08:51

Raghav Sood

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Android intent.getStringExtra() weird behaviour

2 Answers2