How to Initialize and Compare Strings in Java?

You can compare Strings using compareTo() method or, equals() method or, or == operator. Following example demonstrates how to initialize and compare strings in Java.

Example

public class StringDemo {
   public static void main(String[] args) {
      String str1 = "tutorials";
      String str2 = "point";
      
      // comparing str1 and str2
      int retval = str1.compareTo(str2);
       
      // prints the return value of the comparison
      if (retval < 0) {
         System.out.println("str1 is greater than str2");
      }
      else if (retval == 0) {
         System.out.println("str1 is equal to str2");
      } else {
         System.out.println("str1 is less than str2");
      }
   }
}

Output

str1 is less than str2