Java equals for a Class. Is == same as .equals

Question

Can we do a == on a Class variable instead of equals and expect the same result?

For example:

Class clazz = xyz;
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Answer 1

Yes.

Take a look at the Class class description and note that it inherits equals from Object, for which the method reads:

"The equals method for class Object implements the most discriminating possible equivalence relation on objects; that is, for any non-null reference values x and y, this method returns true if and only if x and y refer to the same object (x == y has the value true)."

Answer 2

Yes, since the code for equals(...) for class is the following:

public boolean equals(Object obj) {
    return (this == obj);
}

Answer 3

Class is final, so its equals() cannot be overridden. Its equals() method is inherited from Object which reads

public boolean equals(Object obj) {
    return (this == obj);
}

So yes, they are the same thing for a Class, or any type which doesn't override equals(Object)

To answer your second question, each ClassLoader can only load a class once and will always give you the same Class for a given fully qualified name.