Java String equalsIgnoreCase() Method with Examples

In Java, equalsIgnoreCase() method of the String class compares two strings irrespective of the case (lower or upper) of the string. This method returns a boolean value, true if the argument is not null and represents an equivalent String ignoring case, else false.

Syntax of equalsIgnoreCase()

str2.equalsIgnoreCase(str1);

Parameters

• str1: A string that is supposed to be compared.

Return Value

• A boolean value that is true if the argument is not null and it represents an equivalent String ignoring case, else false.

Illustration

Input : str1 = "pAwAn";
        str2 = "PAWan"
        str2.equalsIgnoreCase(str1);
Output :true

Input : str1 = "powAn";
        str2 = "PAWan"
        str2.equalsIgnoreCase(str1);
Output :false
Explanation: powan and pawan are different strings. 

Note: str1 is a string that needs to be compared with str2.

Internal Implementation of the equalsIgnoreCase() Method

public boolean equalsIgnoreCase(String str) 
{    
       return (this == str) ? true    
               : (str != null)
               && (str.value.length == value.length)    
               && regionMatches(true, 0, str, 0, value.length);
}    

Example of String equalsIgnoreCase() Method

Java

// Java Program to Illustrate equalsIgnoreCase() method

// Importing required classes
import java.lang.*;

// Main class
public class GFG {
    // Main driver method
    public static void main(String[] args)
    {
        // Declaring and initializing strings to compare
        String str1 = "GeeKS FOr gEEks";
        String str2 = "geeKs foR gEEKs";
        String str3 = "ksgee orF geeks";

        // Comparing strings
        // If we ignore the cases
        boolean result1 = str2.equalsIgnoreCase(str1);

        // Both the strings are equal so display true
        System.out.println("str2 is equal to str1 = "
                           + result1);

        // Even if we ignore the cases
        boolean result2 = str2.equalsIgnoreCase(str3);

        // Both the strings are not equal so display false
        System.out.println("str2 is equal to str3 = "
                           + result2);
    }
}

Output

str2 is equal to str1 = true
str2 is equal to str3 = false