textarea.getText() is not working properly in Java

Question

I have a JTextArea, and I'm trying to do a stupid test using textarea.getText()

if(textarea.getText() == "")
{
    System.out.println("empty string");
}

When I do this I don't get anything on the screen even if I leave the textarea empty or I type something inside of it.

if(textarea.getText() != "")
{
    System.out.println("empty string");
}

But when I do this one I get the "empty string" message in all cases.

What's the problem here ?

Solution 1

When comparing strings you should use equals instead of ==:

if("".equals(textarea.getText()))
{
   System.out.println("empty string");
}

== will compare references, it will only work in case it's the exact same String instance. If you want to check whether the content of the String is the same, you should use equals method.

Solution 2

Your code should use .equals() :

if(textarea.getText().equals(""))
{
    System.out.println("empty string");
}

== compares the object reference rather than the object value

Solution 3

Alternatively, you can use isEmpty method in this case:

if(textarea.getText().isEmpty())
{
    System.out.println("empty string");
}

Solution 4

Please use "".equals(textarea.getText()) instead of reference comparison. Operator == compares object references.

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