Getting Started - Absolute Java - page 38

As with any method, a String method is called (invoked) by writing a String
object, a dot, the name of the method, and finally a pair of parentheses that enclose any
arguments to the method. Let's look at some examples.
As we've already noted, the method length can be used to find out the number
of characters in a string. You can use a call to the method length anywhere that
you can use a value of type int . For example, all of the following are legal Java
statements:

length

String greeting = "Hello";
int count = greeting.length();
System.out.println("Length is " + greeting.length());

Display 1.4 Some Methods in the Class String (part 1 of 4)

int length()

Returns the length of the calling object (which is a string) as a value of type int .
EXAMPLE
After program executes String greeting = "Hello!";
greeting.length() returns 6 .

boolean equals ( Other_String )

Returns true if the calling object string and the Other_String are equal. Otherwise, returns false .
EXAMPLE
After program executes String greeting = "Hello";
greeting.equals("Hello") returns true
greeting.equals("Good-Bye") returns false
greeting.equals("hello") returns false
Note that case matters. "Hello" and "hello" are not equal because one starts with an
uppercase letter and the other starts with a lowercase letter.

boolean equalsIgnoreCase ( Other_String )

Returns true if the calling object string and the Other_String are equal, considering upper- and
lowercase versions of a letter to be the same. Otherwise, returns false .
EXAMPLE
After program executes String name = "mary!";
greeting.equalsIgnoreCase("Mary!") returns true