String intern() behaviour

Question

From the javaDocs of String class\'s intern method :

When the intern method is invoked, if the pool already contains a string equal to this String o

Answer 1

pczeus is correct. More info:

fifth is a new string (pool was not checked) that contains the value "Hello". When you intern() it, the return value is fourth (first occurrence of "Hello" being interned), which does not equal fifth.

Same answer for sixth.

seven is the first occurrence of "Hello2" and it does not get interned until you call 'seven == seven.intern()'. Since it gets interned at that moment the return value of intern() is seven.

eight is another new instance of "Hello2". When it gets interned, the return value is seven, which is not eight