equals vs Arrays.equals in Java

Question

When comparing arrays in Java, are there any differences between the following 2 statements?

Object[] array1, array2;
array1.equals(array2);
Arrays.equals(ar         


        

Answer 1

The Arrays.equals(array1, array2) :

check if both arrays contain the same number of elements, and all corresponding pairs of elements in the two arrays are equal.

The array1.equals(array2) :

compare the object to another object and return true only if the reference of the two object are equal as in the Object.equals()

Answer 2

import java.util.Arrays;
public class ArrayDemo {
   public static void main(String[] args) {
   // initializing three object arrays
   Object[] array1 = new Object[] { 1, 123 };
   Object[] array2 = new Object[] { 1, 123, 22, 4 };
   Object[] array3 = new Object[] { 1, 123 };

   // comparing array1 and array2
   boolean retval=Arrays.equals(array1, array2);
   System.out.println("array1 and array2 equal: " + retval);
   System.out.println("array1 and array2 equal: " + array1.equals(array2));

   // comparing array1 and array3
   boolean retval2=Arrays.equals(array1, array3);
   System.out.println("array1 and array3 equal: " + retval2);
   System.out.println("array1 and array3 equal: " + array1.equals(array3));

   }
}

Here is the output:

    array1 and array2 equal: false
    array1 and array2 equal: false

    array1 and array3 equal: true
    array1 and array3 equal: false

Seeing this kind of problem I would personally go for Arrays.equals(array1, array2) as per your question to avoid confusion.