Getting Started - 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 num-
ber 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 uppercase 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