Logical OR with Strings

Question

I have an if statement where one of two conditions can be met, but I don't want to use nested if.

For example, what I would like is to have;

String s;

if(s == "foo" || "bar") {
    // true
} else {
    // false
}

However, operator || cannot be applied to a String.

Is there any way around this?

Answer 1

You can use regex:

String s = "foo";
if (s.matches("foo|bar"))
    // true
else
    // false

Answer 2

equals() method should be used to compare Strings.

if statements evaluate as booleans (true or false). Also, reverse the order of your equals comparison to avoid NPE's.

String s;

if ("foo".equals(s) || "bar".equals(s)) {

} else {

}

Answer 3

Use equals to compare strings in Java:

String s;

if(s.equals("foo") || s.equals("bar")) {
    // true
} else {
    // false
}

See How do I compare strings in Java?

Answer 4

Just an alternative to those already given:

if (Arrays.asList("foo", "bar").contains(s)) {
    // true
} else {
    // false
}

Of course, you can build the collection beforehand:

Set<String> wordsToMatch = new HashSet<>(Arrays.asList("foo", "bar"));

and then use it over and over:

if (wordsToMatch.contains(s)) {
  // ...

Answer 5

You're comparing the Strings incorrectly.

below shows how to compare Strings using equals() method of the String class.

String s;

if(s.equals("foo") || s.equals("bar")) {
    // true
} else {
    // false
}

Further reading regarding how to compare Strings?

Answer 6

if(s.equals("foo") || s.equals("bar")){
   //Your Code
}