java equal method

1In general both equals() and == operator in Java are used to compare 
2objects to check equality but here are some of the differences between the two:
3
41) .equals() and == is that one is a method and other is operator.
52) We can use == operator for reference comparison (address comparison) 
6and .equals() method for content comparison. 
7 -> == checks if both objects point to the same memory location 
8 -> .equals() evaluates to the comparison of values in the objects.
93) If a class does not override the equals method, then by default it 
10uses equals(Object o) method of the closest parent class 
11that has overridden this method.
12
13// Java program to understand  
14// the concept of == operator 
15public class Test { 
16    public static void main(String[] args) 
17    { 
18        String s1 = new String("HELLO"); 
19        String s2 = new String("HELLO"); 
20        System.out.println(s1 == s2); 
21        System.out.println(s1.equals(s2)); 
22    } 
23} 
24Output:
25false
26true
27  
28Explanation: Here we are creating two (String) objects namely s1 and s2.
29Both s1 and s2 refers to different objects.
30 -> When we use == operator for s1 and s2 comparison then the result is false 
31 as both have different addresses in memory.
32 -> Using equals, the result is true because its only comparing the 
33 values given in s1 and s2.

1if(bob.equals("Sam")){ // Checks if strings are equal.
2  // code
3}