What is the difference between "text" and new String("text")?

java, string

Solution

`new String("text");` explicitly creates a new and referentially distinct instance of a `String` object; `String s = "text";` may reuse an instance from the string constant pool if one is available.

You very rarely would ever want to use the `new String(anotherString)` constructor. From the API:

`String(String original)` : Initializes a newly created `String` object so that it represents the same sequence of characters as the argument; in other words, the newly created string is a copy of the argument string. Unless an explicit copy of original is needed, use of this constructor is unnecessary since strings are immutable.

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What referential distinction means

Examine the following snippet:

    String s1 = "foobar";
    String s2 = "foobar";

    System.out.println(s1 == s2);      // true

    s2 = new String("foobar");
    System.out.println(s1 == s2);      // false
    System.out.println(s1.equals(s2)); // true

`==` on two reference types is a reference identity comparison. Two objects that are `equals` are not necessarily `==`. It is usually wrong to use `==` on reference types; most of the time `equals` need to be used instead.

Nonetheless, if for whatever reason you need to create two `equals` but not `==` string, you can use the `new String(anotherString)` constructor. It needs to be said again, however, that this is very peculiar, and is rarely the intention.

References

- JLS 15.21.3 Reference Equality Operators == and !=

- `class Object` - `boolean Object(equals)`

Related issues

- Java String.equals versus ==

- How do I compare strings in Java?

Problem

What is the difference between these two following statements? ``` String s = "text"; String s = new String("text"); ```

Original source

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