String equals giving odd results

Question

I am fairly new to java, and I cannot figure out for the life of me why this piece of code is not working, I am trying to see if a word is an adverb, and hence if it ends in "ly" or not (they will always be lowercase). This is my code:

    String str = "evenly";
    int a = str.length()-2;
    int b = str.length();
    String res = (String)str.substring(str.length()-2,str.length());
    System.out.println(res + " == ly -> " + (res == "ly"));

I am testing it here: http://ideone.com/4FuBwj The output is: ly == ly -> false
Which means that, res = "ly" but res == "ly" is false?
Why is this happening?

Don't compare Strings with ==. Use the `res.equals()` method. `(res.equals("ly"))` — Kon, Nov 04 '13 at 01:57
Tip: Add @Kon (the `@` is important) or whoever, to *notify* them of a new comment. — Andrew Thompson, Nov 04 '13 at 02:03

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 04 '13 at 02:03

As @Kon has stated in the comments, you shouldn't be comparing the Strings with the == operation, it should be done with the String.equals() method. You could possibly even use the String.equalsIgnoreCase() method if you're wanting to ignore case sensitivity between the values.

System.out.println(res + " == ly -> " + (res.equals("ly")));

or as above

System.out.println(res + " == ly -> " + (res.equalsIgnoreCase("ly")));

Hope this helps!

String equals giving odd results

1 Answers1