What is the difference between the equals() and == operators in Java?

In Java, the equals() method and the == operator are both used to compare two objects, but they differ in their behavior and usage.

The == operator compares two objects by checking if they are the same object, i.e., if they have the same memory address. It is used to compare primitive types and object references in Java. When applied to objects, it compares the memory addresses of the objects rather than their values.

On the other hand, the equals() method is a method of the Object class and is used to compare the values of two objects for equality. It is not used to compare memory addresses or references, but instead, it compares the content of the objects. By default, the equals() method checks whether two objects have the same memory address, but it can be overridden to compare the values of the objects.

It is important to note that not all classes in Java override the equals() method, so for some classes, the default behavior of equals() is to compare memory addresses. In these cases, it is important to use the == operator to compare objects for equality.