If == compares references in Java, why does it evaluate to true with these Strings?

Question

As it is stated the == operator compares object references to check if they are referring to the same object on a heap. If so why am I getting the \"Equal\" for this piece o

Answer 1

Comments above have summed it up pretty well.

I don't have a Java environment handy, but attempting the following should clarify things for you (hopefully this works as I anticipate).

String str1 = "Str1";  
String str2 = "Str"; str2 += "1";

Should now print Not equal