String lit1 = "String Literal" ; 
String lit2 = "String Literal" ; 


if ( lit1.equals( lit2 ) )
  System.out.println("TRUE");
else
  System.out.println("FALSE");

Example Continued

Here is the previous program with some more if statements:

public class LiteralEgTwo
{
  public static void main ( String[] args )
  {
    String str1 = "String literal" ;  // create a literal
    String str2 = "String literal" ;  // str2 refers to the same literal
     
    String msgA = new String ("Look Out!");  // create an object
    String msgB = new String ("Look Out!");  // create another object
  
    if ( str1 == str2 ) 
      System.out.println( "Case 1: This WILL print.");

    if ( str1 .equals( str2 )) 
      System.out.println( "Case 2: This WILL print.");

    if ( msgA == msgB ) 
      System.out.println( "Case 3: This will NOT print.");

    if ( msgA .equals( msgB )) 
      System.out.println( "Case 4: This WILL print.");
  }

}

The program prints:

Case 1: This WILL print.
Case 2: This WILL print.
Case 4: This WILL print.