Question

Possible Duplicate:
Java Strings: “String s = new String(”silly“);”

I was going through some of the string examples and I am confused:

What is the difference between

String one = new String("ONE");

and

String one = "ONE";

and here is the example why i am bit confused

String one = new String("ONE");
String another_one = new String("ONE");
System.out.print(one.equals(another_one)); //-->true
System.out.print(one == another_one );     //-->false

while

  String one = "ONE";
  String another_one = "ONE";
  System.out.print(one.equals(another_one)); //-->true
  System.out.print(one == another_one );     //-->true

Why is it such so?

Answer 1

String one = new String("ONE");

Creates a new object. Comparing using the equals method compares the string of characters itself, when they are exactly the same it returns true. Comparing using the “==” operator compares the objects, which in this case are not the same since you created a new one.

String one = "ONE";
String another_one = "ONE";  

This does infact not create a new object, the compiler will optimise these two statements so that both “one” and “another_one” point to the same object in memory as they both reference the same string literal. Since here both variables point to the very same object, the “==” will return true in this case.