CODEWITHSUNDEEP
javastringfunctioncharacter-encodingequals
user7482601
user7482601

Reputation:

Equals() not returning true for two equal strings

I have failed to find the reason why the two strings are not equal.Here is my code:

  public static void main(String[] args) {
       JTextArea jt=new JTextArea();
        jt.append("why \n me?"); //i set a test value to the JTextArea
        Document doc = jt.getDocument();
        Element root = doc.getDefaultRootElement();
        Element element = root.getElement(0); 
        int start = element.getStartOffset();
        int end = element.getEndOffset();
 //the code above is what i specifically need for my app, to bring a 
 //specific line from a JTextArea
        String s;
    try {
        s=doc.getText(start, end - start);
   System.out.print("s = "+s);

       if(s.equals("why")) //i expect equals() here to return true
        System.out.print("s equals "+s);
       else
        System.out.print("s is not equal to "+s);

    } catch (BadLocationException ex) {
        ex.getStackTrace();
    }         
 }

The result I get after running the program is:

 s = why 
 s is not equal to why

Upvotes: 0

Views: 747

Answers (4)

handsp
handsp

Reputation: 127

if you want to compare the content of two string object,you can use s.compareTo("why")==0

Upvotes: -1

Stephen C
Stephen C

Reputation: 718678

The most likely explanation is that the s string is actually "why ". Note the space character.

Indeed, if you look at the string you append to the JTextArea, there is space after "why" and before the newline.

Generally speaking, when you display a string for debugging purposes, it is a good idea to display it with quotes around it so that can notice any leading or trailing whitespace. For example:

       System.out.println("s = '" + s + "'");

Another possible explanation (though unlikely in this case) is homoglyphs; i.e. two different Unicode codepoints that look like each other in a typical font.

Upvotes: 1

Jens
Jens

Reputation: 69440

If you print it out with eye catcher: System.out.print("s = >>" + s +"<<");

you see that at the end you have included the blanks and the line break:

s = >>why 
<<s is not equal to why

and why \n is not equals to why use s = doc.getText(start, end - start).trim(); and it should work.

Upvotes: 0

Suresh Atta
Suresh Atta

Reputation: 121998

Your result must have a space as you have a space before the new line 

 s=doc.getText(start, end - start);

You end is including the space before \n. You need to write 

 s=doc.getText(start, (end -1) - start);

Or you can trim it while comparing as it is just space. Note that if you have someother letter other than space trim wont work.

Upvotes: 1

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