Compare two objects in Java with possible null values

Question

I want to compare two strings for equality when either or both can be null.

So, I can\'t simply call .equals() as it can contain null<

Answer 1

boolean compare(String str1, String str2) {
    if (str1 == null || str2 == null)
        return str1 == str2;

    return str1.equals(str2);
}