The code fragment compares four pairs of strings using the equals() and intern() methods. The

equals() method compares the content of two strings, while the intern() method returns a canonical

representation of a string, which means that it returns a reference to an existing string with the same

content in the string pool. The string pool is a memory area where strings are stored and reused to

save space and improve performance. The results of the comparisons are as follows:

s1.equals(s2): This returns true because both s1 and s2 have the same content, “Hello Java 17”.

s1 == s2: This returns false because s1 and s2 are different objects with different

, even

though they have the same content. The == operator compares the references of two objects, not

their content.

s1.intern() == s2.intern(): This returns true because both s1.intern() and s2.intern() return a reference

to the same string object in the string pool, which has the content “Hello Java 17”. The intern()

method ensures that there is only one copy of each distinct string value in the string pool.

“Hello Java 17” == s2: This returns false because “Hello Java 17” is a string literal, which is

automatically interned and stored in the string pool, while s2 is a string object created with the new

operator, which is not interned by default and stored in the heap. Therefore, they have different

references and are not equal using the == operator.

Reference: String (Java SE 17 & JDK 17) - Oracle