String comparison - Android

Question

I'm unable to compare two strings using the following code:

I have a string named "gender" which will have "Male" or "Female" as its value.

if(gender == "Male")
   salutation ="Mr.";
if(gender == "Female")
   salutation ="Ms.";

This didn't work, so I tried the following:

String g1="Male";
String g2="Female";
if(gender.equals(g1))
   salutation ="Mr.";
if(gender.equals(g2))
   salutation ="Ms.";

Again, it didn't work. Can someone please tell me how to compare string values using the if statement.

If that is not working, it is because gender is something else. Add this to figure it what is `Log.d("GENDER", gender)` — cutiko, Mar 10 '21 at 22:49

Linga · Answer 1 · 2014-03-03T08:50:08.013

97

Try this

if(gender.equals("Male"))
 salutation ="Mr.";
if(gender.equals("Female"))
 salutation ="Ms.";

Also remove ;(semi-colon ) in your if statement

if(gender.equals(g1));

In Java, one of the most common mistakes newcomers meet is using == to compare Strings. You have to remember, == compares the object references, not the content.

edited Mar 03 '14 at 08:50

answered Apr 22 '13 at 09:25

Linga

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3

If you explain why, I'll +1 this :) – Amokrane Chentir Apr 22 '13 at 09:27
Look at your code carefully and remove the ; at the end of both the if statements. – Linga Apr 22 '13 at 09:33
Sorry, i wasn't using ; after the if stmt in my actual code, error while typing the question here! – Raghav Kumar Apr 22 '13 at 09:34
1

@RaghavKumar What's the input? – Amokrane Chentir Apr 22 '13 at 09:34
The input for the sting 'gender' is coming from a spinner which is in my MainActivity.java file. I have checked the value of variable 'gender', no problem with that, but unable to use it the way i want – Raghav Kumar Apr 22 '13 at 09:37
@RaghavKumar then try out other solution or update your code with that `MainActivity.java` – SilentKiller Apr 22 '13 at 09:51
1

For null-safety, I always put the constant on the left side: `if("Male".equals(gender))` – 1615903 Jul 06 '17 at 06:31

score 13 · Answer 2 · edited Dec 11 '15 at 01:31

13

String unlike int or other numeric variables are compared in Java differently than other languages.

To compare Strings in Java (android) it is used the method .compareTo();

so the code should be like this:

if(gender.compareTo("Male")==0){
   salutation ="Mr.";
}
if(gender.compareTo("Female")==0){
   salutation ="Ms.";
}

edited Dec 11 '15 at 01:31

Josh Crozier

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answered Oct 25 '14 at 21:21

ManuelAlvaradoh

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score 10 · Answer 3 · answered Apr 22 '13 at 09:27

10

In Java we don't compare string as you are doing above... Here is String comparison...

    if (gender.equalsIgnoreCase("Male")) {
        salutation = "Mr.";
    } else if (gender.equalsIgnoreCase("Female")) {
        salutation = "Ms.";
    }

answered Apr 22 '13 at 09:27

SilentKiller

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score 8 · Answer 4 · answered Apr 22 '13 at 09:32

8

I think the above mentioned answer is correct.Because == is for testing whether two strings are the same object,whereas .equals() tests whether two strings have the same value.

answered Apr 22 '13 at 09:32

anjaly

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4

This is a better explanation why not to use == – Dexter Nov 26 '14 at 11:04
2

there is no "above" answer, for the order varies with number of votes. please edit and specify, if possible. tks – tony gil Aug 21 '16 at 10:37

score 4 · Answer 5 · answered Apr 22 '13 at 09:28

The == operator checks to see if two objects are exactly the same object. Two strings may be different objects, but have the same value (have exactly the same characters in them). Use the .equals() method to compare strings for equality.

http://www.leepoint.net/notes-java/data/strings/12stringcomparison.html

score 4 · Answer 6 · answered Apr 22 '13 at 09:30

4

Your gender == "Male" is actually comparing the object references for the object gender and a different object Male. What you have to use is the .equals() method to compare the value of the objects.

answered Apr 22 '13 at 09:30

midhunhk

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score 3 · Answer 7 · answered Apr 22 '13 at 09:26

3

try this

String g1="Male";
    String g2="Female";
    if(gender.equals(g1))
       salutation ="Mr.";
    if(gender.equals(g2))
       salutation ="Ms.";

you were ending your if statement if(gender.equals(g1)); <<--- here by adding ";"

answered Apr 22 '13 at 09:26

Shiv

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score 3 · Answer 8 · answered Apr 22 '13 at 09:30

String g1="Male";
String g2="Female";
String salutation="";
String gender="Male";
if(gender.toLowerCase().trim().equals(g1.toLowerCase().trim()));
   salutation ="Mr.";
if(gender.toLowerCase().trim().equals(g2.toLowerCase().trim()));
   salutation ="Ms.";

score 3 · Answer 9 · answered Apr 22 '13 at 09:31

try this.

        String g1 = "Male";
        String g2 = "Female";
        String gender = "Male";
        String salutation = "";
        if (gender.equalsIgnoreCase(g1))

            salutation = "Mr.";
        else if (gender.equalsIgnoreCase(g2))

            salutation = "Ms.";
        System.out.println("Welcome " + salutation);

Output:

Welcome Mr.

score 2 · Answer 10 · answered Apr 22 '13 at 09:28

2

This should work:

if(gender.equals("Male")){
 salutation ="Mr.";
}
else if(gender.equals("Female")){
 salutation ="Ms.";
}

Remember, not to use ; after if statement.

answered Apr 22 '13 at 09:28

Jainendra

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score 2 · Answer 11 · edited Dec 24 '18 at 19:06

2

In addition if you want to compare if two strings are different, you can use :

String mystring = "something";
!mystring.equals("whatever")

It will return true!

edited Dec 24 '18 at 19:06

HMD

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answered Dec 24 '18 at 17:57

davidprogramador01

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score 0 · Answer 12 · answered Apr 22 '13 at 09:27

0

if(gender.equals(g1)); <---
if(gender == "Female"); <---

You have semicolon after if.REMOVE IT.

answered Apr 22 '13 at 09:27

Vipul

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score 0 · Answer 13 · answered Apr 22 '13 at 09:45

0

Actually every code runs well here, but your probleme probably come from your gender variable. Did you try to do a simple System.out.println(gender); before the comparaison ?

answered Apr 22 '13 at 09:45

e1che

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score 0 · Answer 14 · answered Apr 06 '16 at 18:49

0

You can use, contentEquals() function. It may help you..

answered Apr 06 '16 at 18:49

Ashwin Mothilal

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score 0 · Answer 15 · answered May 11 '18 at 20:42

0

This one work for me:

 if (email.equals("fahim@gmail.com") && pass.equals("123ss") ){
        Toast.makeText(this,"Logged in",Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
    }
    else{

        Toast.makeText(this,"Logged out",Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
    }

answered May 11 '18 at 20:42

Fahim Md. Riaz

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score 0 · Answer 16 · answered Mar 10 '21 at 22:39

Actually we could help better if we could see what is the input coming gender

However you can try following, maybe it's a case issue, like the incoming gender is male instead of Male

if(gender.equalsIgnoreCase("male"){
    salutation = "Mr.";
} else if(gender.equalsIgnoreCase("female"){
    salutation = "Ms.";
}

Or if this didn't worked, try getting the gender and let us know what it is, so we can help better. You can print gender like this

System.out.println(gender);

You may see the output on the Console on your IDE

score -1 · Answer 17 · edited Mar 22 '16 at 05:21

-1

Try it:

if (Objects.equals(gender, "Male")) {
    salutation ="Mr.";
} else if (Objects.equals(gender, "Female")) {
    salutation ="Ms.";
}

edited Mar 22 '16 at 05:21

bummi

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answered Mar 22 '16 at 04:37

Quang Dai Ngo

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String comparison - Android

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