Java equals() ordering

Question

If I try to do a .equals() on a null string in java, a null pointer exception will be thrown. I am wondering, if I am trying to compare if a string is equal to

Answer 1

What you've got is fine. It's even possible to use a String literal.

if( "value".equals(variable) ) {
    ...

If you don't like that, you can always explicitly check for null and equality, and combine the two checks with &&. The short circuiting of the operator will make sure you never get a NPE.

if( (variable != null) && variable.equals("value") ) {
    ...