Relational operators

Relational operators generate a boolean result. They evaluate the relationship between the values of the operands. A relational expression produces true if the relationship is true, and false if the relationship is untrue. The relational operators are less than (<), greater than (>), less than or equal to (<=), greater than or equal to (>=), equivalent (==) and not equivalent (!=). Equivalence and nonequivalence work with all built-in data types, but the other comparisons won’t work with type boolean.

Testing object equivalence

The relational operators == and != also work with all objects, but their meaning often confuses the first-time Java programmer. Here’s an example:

//: c03:Equivalence.java
import com.bruceeckel.simpletest.*;

public class Equivalence {
  static Test monitor = new Test();
  public static void main(String[] args) {
    Integer n1 = new Integer(47);
    Integer n2 = new Integer(47);
    System.out.println(n1 == n2);
    System.out.println(n1 != n2);
    monitor.expect(new String[] {
      "false",
      "true"
    });
  }
} ///:~

The expression System.out.println(n1 == n2) will print the result of the boolean comparison within it. Surely the output should be true and then false, since both Integer objects are the same. But while the contents of the objects are the same, the references are not the same and the operators == and != compare object references. So the output is actually false and then true. Naturally, this surprises people at first.

What if you want to compare the actual contents of an object for equivalence? You must use the special method equals( ) that exists for all objects (not primitives, which work fine with == and !=). Here’s how it’s used:

//: c03:EqualsMethod.java
import com.bruceeckel.simpletest.*;

public class EqualsMethod {
  static Test monitor = new Test();
  public static void main(String[] args) {
    Integer n1 = new Integer(47);
    Integer n2 = new Integer(47);
    System.out.println(n1.equals(n2));
    monitor.expect(new String[] {
      "true"
    });
  }
} ///:~

The result will be true, as you would expect. Ah, but it’s not as simple as that. If you create your own class, like this:

//: c03:EqualsMethod2.java
import com.bruceeckel.simpletest.*;

class Value {
  int i;
}

public class EqualsMethod2 {
  static Test monitor = new Test();
  public static void main(String[] args) {
    Value v1 = new Value();
    Value v2 = new Value();
    v1.i = v2.i = 100;
    System.out.println(v1.equals(v2));
    monitor.expect(new String[] {
      "false"
    });
  }
} ///:~

you’re back to square one: the result is false. This is because the default behavior of equals( ) is to compare references. So unless you override equals( ) in your new class you won’t get the desired behavior. Unfortunately, you won’t learn about overriding until Chapter 7 and about the proper way to define equals( ) until Chapter 11, but being aware of the way equals( ) behaves might save you some grief in the meantime.

Most of the Java library classes implement equals( ) so that it compares the contents of objects instead of their references.

Thinking in Java
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