Difference between null and empty (“”) Java String

Question

What is the difference between null and the \"\" (empty string)?

I have written some simple code:

String a = \"\";
String b         


        

Answer 1

When you write

String a = "";

It means there is a variable 'a' of type string which points to a object reference in string pool which has a value "". As variable a is holding a valid string object reference, all the methods of string can be applied here.

Whereas when you write

String b = null;

It means that there is a variable b of type string which points to an unknown reference. And any operation on unknown reference will result in an NullPointerException.

Now, let us evaluate the below expressions.

System.out.println(a == b); // false. because a and b both points to different object reference

System.out.println(a.equals(b)); // false, because the values at object reference pointed by a and b do not match.

System.out.println(b.equals(a)); // NullPointerException, because b is pointing to unknown reference and no operation is allowed