Explanation
This Java program is designed to demonstrate fundamental operations on strings, which are sequences of characters. It takes two strings as input from the user and then performs three main tasks: converting a string to lowercase, comparing two strings for equality, and concatenating two strings.
- Input Collection: The program first initializes a
Scannerobject, which is used to read input from the console. It then prompts the user to enter a "first string" and a "second string," reading each complete line of input usingsc.nextLine()and storing them instr1andstr2variables, respectively. - Lowercase Conversion: It takes the
str1(first string) and calls itstoLowerCase()method. This method returns a new string where all uppercase characters instr1have been converted to their lowercase equivalents, while other characters remain unchanged. This new string is then printed to the console. - String Comparison: The program then compares
str1andstr2to check if they are identical. It uses theequals()method, which performs a case-sensitive comparison of the content of the two strings. If the characters in both strings match exactly, including their case, the program prints that the strings are "EQUAL"; otherwise, it prints "NOT EQUAL." The commented linestr1.equalsIgnoreCase(str2)is mentioned as an alternative for case-insensitive comparison, but the active code usesequals(). - String Concatenation: Finally, the program demonstrates how to join two strings together. It creates a new string called
combinedby using the+operator to joinstr1, a space character (" "), andstr2. Thiscombinedstring is then printed. The linestr1.concat(str2);is shown as another method for concatenation, but its result is not stored or printed, highlighting thatStringmethods often return new strings that must be captured. - Resource Cleanup: After all operations are complete,
sc.close()is called to release the system resources associated with theScannerobject.