Question

I am using Java 7, and I have the following class below. I implemented equals and hashCode correctly, but the problem is that equals returns false in the main method below yet hashCode returns the same hash code for both objects. Can I get more sets of eyes to look at this class to see if I’m doing anything wrong here?

UPDATE: I replaced the line on which I call the Objects.hash method with my own hash function: chamorro.hashCode() + english.hashCode() + notes.hashCode(). It returns a different hash code, which is what hashCode is supposed to do when two objects are different. Is the Objects.hash method broken?

Your help will be greatly appreciated!

import org.apache.commons.lang3.StringEscapeUtils;

public class ChamorroEntry {

  private String chamorro, english, notes;

  public ChamorroEntry(String chamorro, String english, String notes) {
    this.chamorro = StringEscapeUtils.unescapeHtml4(chamorro.trim());
    this.english = StringEscapeUtils.unescapeHtml4(english.trim());
    this.notes = notes.trim();
  }

  @Override
  public boolean equals(Object object) {
    if (!(object instanceof ChamorroEntry)) {
      return false;
    }
    if (this == object) {
      return true;
    }
    ChamorroEntry entry = (ChamorroEntry) object;
    return chamorro.equals(entry.chamorro) && english.equals(entry.english)
        && notes.equals(entry.notes);
  }

  @Override
  public int hashCode() {
    return java.util.Objects.hash(chamorro, english, notes);
  }

  public static void main(String... args) {
    ChamorroEntry entry1 = new ChamorroEntry("Åguigan", "Second island south of Saipan. Åguihan.", "");
    ChamorroEntry entry2 = new ChamorroEntry("Åguihan", "Second island south of Saipan. Åguigan.", "");
    System.err.println(entry1.equals(entry2)); // returns false
    System.err.println(entry1.hashCode() + "\n" + entry2.hashCode()); // returns same hash code!
  }
}

Answer 1

Actually, you happened to trigger pure coincidence. 🙂

Objects.hash happens to be implemented by successively adding the hash code of each given object and then multiplying the result by 31, while String.hashCode does the same with each of its characters. By coincidence, the differences in the “English” strings you used occur at exactly one offset more from the end of the string as the same difference in the “Chamorro” string, so everything cancels out perfectly. Congratulations!

Try with other strings, and you’ll probably find that it works as expected. As others have already pointed out, this effect is not actually wrong, strictly speaking, since hash codes may correctly collide even if the objects they represent are unequal. If anything, it might be worthwhile trying to find a more efficient hash, but I hardly think it should be necessary in realistic situations.