Question

When comparing two utf-8 strings (one being the text and the other being the pattern to find) in java for an exact match, is it required to use a Collator or is it enough to normalize both strings and use a simple charAt comparison?

For more information about internationalized text search and the use of Collators, please look at http://www.developertutorials.com/tutorials/java/text-searching-java-050524-1453/

Example: In Spanish “ch” may be a single letter, while in English is 2 letters. So the word “Chiapas” may look the same, but if that is not taken into consideration, the match will fail.

Answer 1

If you search exact matches I think normalization is enough. You will need Collator if for instance only Collator.PRIMARY differences make sense.