Thread: contains vs. indexOf

Is there any situation where

if (str1.contains(str2)) {}
and
if (str1.indexOf(str2)>=0) ) {}

might be different?
A colleague has been changing all occurrences of the 1st form for the 2nd. But I don't see the reason and I can't ask him.

Firstly welcome to Java Programming Forums

As far as im aware .contains() is a newer method that is just a specialized case of indexOf()

First off, contains returns true/false while indexOf will return the index of the search.

But the magic is in the contains method, you ready for this, its a funny one

    public boolean contains(CharSequence s) {
        return indexOf(s.toString()) > -1;
    }

// Json

Originally Posted by Json

First off, contains returns true/false while indexOf will return the index of the search.

But the magic is in the contains method, you ready for this, its a funny one

    public boolean contains(CharSequence s) {
        return indexOf(s.toString()) > -1;
    }

// Json

Told you contains was just an specialized implementation of indexOf. Making it better practice to infact use indexOf()

Chris

Better practice, maybe... But hardly worth the trouble of having to check all those differences that light up in CVS (in my opinion).

Thanks for the replies.
Marcel

The methods have different use, if you need to check if the String contains something then use the contains, but if you want to know where in the String it is contained, use the indexOf method.

// Json