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    \$\begingroup\$ I don't really know Java that well but can't you just use s=="" \$\endgroup\$ Commented May 4, 2017 at 15:28
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    \$\begingroup\$ @JohanduToit In Java unfortunately not. String is an Object, and since Java is passed-by-reference, s and "" doesn't point to the same reference, even if they have the same value. So new String("test") == "test" returns false, and new String("test").equals("test") returns true. String literals are an exception to this rule, so "test" == "test" will return true, because the compiler references to the same spot in the background. Perhaps better explained here or .equals in general here \$\endgroup\$ Commented May 4, 2017 at 18:09
  • \$\begingroup\$ @JohanduToit You could do s.intern()=="" to force Java to replace it with the equivalent object from the string pool, but that's 14 bytes, not really an improvement over the other methods. \$\endgroup\$ Commented Feb 14, 2018 at 20:44
  • \$\begingroup\$ @KevinCruijssen [...] since Java is passed-by-reference [...] -- more importantly since Java does not allow operator overloading and defines equality as identity. \$\endgroup\$ Commented Sep 26, 2018 at 14:26
  • \$\begingroup\$ actually, interesting enough, you can use s=="" if you make s="' at first, see my fizz buzz java program for an example codegolf.stackexchange.com/questions/58615/1-2-fizz-4-buzz/… I love how my ide says that s=="" doesn't work, but I can run the program just fine \$\endgroup\$ Commented Feb 2, 2021 at 18:05