In general both equals() and “==” operator in Java are used to compare objects to check equality but here are some of the differences between the two:
- Main difference between .equals() method and == operator is that one is method and other is operator.
- We can use == operators for reference comparison (address comparison) and .equals() method for content comparison. In simple words, == checks if both objects point to the same memory location whereas .equals() evaluates to the comparison of values in the objects.
- If a class does not override the equals method, then by default it uses equals(Object o) method of the closest parent class that has overridden this method. See this for detail