do <= and >= relational operators work with Integer objects

Question

I understand that you can't use == or != to compare values of numeric objects and have to use .equals() instead. But after a fair amount of searching I haven't been able to find a statement about whether or not you can use the other comparison operators, other than suggestions to use .compare() or .compareTo() which feel inefficient because they require two comparisons: a to b, then the result of that to zero.

Despite == and != comparing the addresses of the objects, the other comparison operators appear to compare the numeric values. For instance the following code snippet:

Integer a = new Integer(3000);
Integer b = new Integer(3000);
System.out.println("a <  b " + (a < b));
System.out.println("a <= b " + (a <= b));
System.out.println("a == b " + (a == b));
System.out.println("a >= b " + (a >= b));
System.out.println("a >  b " + (a > b));

produces

a <  b false
a <= b true
a == b false
a >= b true
a >  b false

Which appears to indicate all operators but == compare the value, not the address of the object. Is it accepted usage to use the <= class of operators, or just an unsupported feature of my compiler or something?

Luiggi Mendoza · Accepted Answer · 2014-05-29T17:37:32.047

Yes, but note that Integer are objects, not primitive int. Usage of >, <, >= and <= operators are not meant for objects, but for primitives, so when using any of these, the Integer is autoboxed to int. While when using == in objects you are comparing their references. Use equals instead to compare them.

Still, note that Integer class has an cache that store Integer references from -128 to 127. This means that if you do this:

Integer i1 = 127;
Integer i2 = 127;
System.out.println(i1 == i2);

Will print true.

do <= and >= relational operators work with Integer objects

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