.equals() Comparison

Background

Comparing objects should be done via the .equals() method. Comparison based on the == or the != operator compares the objects itself. Use equals() to determine whether two objects are equal in their data. Caution: its quickfix might change behaviour.

Since 0.8.0

Enumerations and static final fields are ignored.

Since 0.8.2

Example

Bad code:

Good code:

 
if (modifier.getKeyword() == keyword)
 
if (modifier.getKeyword().equals(keyword))

Requires bindings

This code check requires Eclipse to resolve bindings. Enabling this code check increases build time.

@SuppressWarnings

Warnings generated by this codecheck can be suppressed by adding the @SuppressWarnings("equals-comparison") annotation.

Note: @SuppressWarnings("equals-comparison") used to be @SuppressWarnings("equals") in version 0.8.0 and 0.8.1.

Available quick fixes

The quick fixes for this code check replaces the infix expression by a method invocation of equals(). Applying this quickfix changes behaviour.