Problem with equals Strings in Java

Question

I have two "equal" Strings. When I print both Strings they look exactly the same in the screen. But when I compare the Strings the result is "false" and using .length in both Strings the result is 174 for the first String and 171 for the second. I have deleted all whitespaces and everything to set the Strings in one line.

String 1:
<docxmlns="http://example.com/default"xmlns:x="http://example.com/x"><aa1="1"a2="2">123</a><bxmlns:y="http://example.com/y"a3="&quot;3&quot;"y:a1="1"y:a2="2">cdf</b></doc>

String 2:
<docxmlns="http://example.com/default"xmlns:x="http://example.com/x"><aa1="1"a2="2">123</a><bxmlns:y="http://example.com/y"a3="&quot;3&quot;"y:a1="1"y:a2="2">cdf</b></doc>

String 1 length: 174
String 2 length: 171

I copied both Strings from Netbeans console, as you can see they are equals but they have different lengths.

Thanks.

when you say compare, what does that mean? Can you post your compare code. It does sound like a trim or character encoding problem. — joostschouten
– joostschouten, Commented Jun 16, 2011 at 16:12
if (archCan.equals(arch))... I use this method to compare, and I use trim before the comparison. I think it could be an encoding problem. — arkhadi
– arkhadi, Commented Jun 16, 2011 at 16:16
Then I'm pretty sure its an encoding problem. Try highlycaffeinated's answer. — joostschouten
– joostschouten, Commented Jun 16, 2011 at 16:24

Marcelo · Accepted Answer · 2011-06-16 16:14:14Z

3

When you are reading it in your java program maybe the string contains newline characters ("\n\r" in Windows) which can alter the length and equality in both strings.

answered Jun 16, 2011 at 16:14

Marcelo

11.3k1 gold badge40 silver badges53 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

1 Comment

arkhadi Over a year ago

Thank you. The problem was with "\r" I deleted "\n" and whitespaces but I didn't do anything with "\r".

highlycaffeinated · Accepted Answer · 2011-06-16 16:16:22Z

2

Call getBytes() on both strings and print the results. I'm betting you have an encoding difference.

answered Jun 16, 2011 at 16:16

highlycaffeinated

19.9k9 gold badges62 silver badges92 bronze badges

Comments

Costi Ciudatu · Accepted Answer · 2011-06-16 16:22:41Z

2

Try to print them as characters:

System.out.println( Arrays.toString( yourString.toCharArray() );

This should allow you to see where the non-printable characters (or whatever differs) are, as the output for "abc" will be "[a, b, c]".

answered Jun 16, 2011 at 16:22

Costi Ciudatu

38.5k7 gold badges58 silver badges95 bronze badges

Comments

mark-cs · Accepted Answer · 2011-06-16 16:13:20Z

0

I have deleted all whitespaces and everything to set the Strings in one line.

White space is important and may be the deciding factor in your equals problem here. As a test to see if it is, strip the white space from both strings then perform an equals check.

answered Jun 16, 2011 at 16:13

mark-cs

4,7171 gold badge27 silver badges32 bronze badges

Comments

Matteo · Accepted Answer · 2011-06-16 16:20:41Z

0

Did you cut & paste the strings from an external source, such as a PDF? Some years ago I had a similar issue, and I discovered that strings copied from PDFs sometimes include some invisible characters (I used Acrobat Reader).

answered Jun 16, 2011 at 16:20

Matteo

1,3777 silver badges25 bronze badges

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Problem with equals Strings in Java

5 Answers 5

1 Comment

Comments

Comments

Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

5 Answers 5

1 Comment

Comments

Comments

Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related