Why would you use String.Equals over ==? [duplicate]

Answer 1

I want to add that there is another difference. It is related to what Andrew posts.

It is also related to a VERY annoying to find bug in our software. See the following simplified example (I also omitted the null check).

public const int SPECIAL_NUMBER = 213;

public bool IsSpecialNumberEntered(string numberTextBoxTextValue)
{
    return numberTextBoxTextValue.Equals(SPECIAL_NUMBER)
}

This will compile and always return false. While the following will give a compile error:

public const int SPECIAL_NUMBER = 213;

public bool IsSpecialNumberEntered(string numberTextBoxTextValue)
{
    return (numberTextBoxTextValue == SPECIAL_NUMBER);
}

We have had to solve a similar problem where someone compared enums of different type using Equals. You are going to read over this MANY times before realising it is the cause of the bug. Especially if the definition of SPECIAL_NUMBER is not near the problem area.

This is why I am really against the use of Equals in situations where is it not necessary. You lose a little bit of type-safety.