Java converting char to string won't work

Question

Why does this return false? How can I get it to return true?

public class Test {
    public static void main(String [] args) {
        char character = 'X';
        String x = Character.toString(character);
        System.out.println(x == "X"); // returns false
    }
}

Answer 1

Use the String.equals(otherString) function to compare strings, not the == operator.

The reason is that == just compares object references,where as .equals() checks equality.

 System.out.println(x.equals("X"));

Answer 2

You cannot compare strings in Java with == in general. Use x.equals("X"). Otherwise you're using reference equality and are in fact testing that both x and "X" are the same reference (which is unlikely to be the case).

Answer 3

Because Character.toString(character) returns a new String . Hence x =="X" is false. == compares references , not contents. To compare String , use equals() method.

System.out.println(x.equals("X"));

Character.toString(character); calls String.valueOf(character), whose code is :

public static String valueOf(char c) {
  char data[] = {c};
  return new String(0, 1, data); // new String object created here
}

Hence your comparison of object reference using == fails .

Answer 4

== operator in Java checks whether the two references are pointing to the same object or now. Which is false in your case. For String comparison, use equals() or equalsIgnoreCase()