Comparison Operators

Operators explained

Here are the most common comparison operators in Java:

Usage	Description
a > b	Is a greater than b?
a >= b	Is a greater than or equal to b?
a < b	Is a less than b?
a <= b	Is a less than or equal to b?
a == b	Is a equal to b?
a != b	Is a not equal to b?

TIP

In Java, == checks for equality of primitive types and object references. For object content equality, use .equals().

Examples

Using inequalities

java

public class Main {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        int minimumAge = 18;
        int userAge = 21;
        System.out.println(userAge >= minimumAge);
    }
}

output

true

Using equality operators

java

public class Main {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        String bookCondition = "good";

        System.out.println(bookCondition == "poor");
        System.out.println(bookCondition == "good");
    }
}

output

false
true

Strict and loose equality

In Java, equality is strict, in the sense that == will only be true if the data has the same value and the same type.

public class Main {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        String userId = "123";
        int inputId = 123;

        System.out.println(userId == inputId); // error!
        System.out.println(userId == Integer.toString(inputId)); // true
    }
}