I am currently trying to make a comparable object and working on the compareTo() function, for which I wrote the following code
class InfoAcad(e: String, m: String, c: Int): Comparable<InfoAcad> {
override operator fun compareTo(other: InfoAcad): Int {
if (this.e < other.e) return -1
if (this.e > other.e) return 1
if (this.e == other.e && this.m < other.m) return -1
if (this.e == other.e && this.m > other.m) return 1
return 0
}
}
The idea is that e is an ID number inputted as a string, which always follows the format XX-XXX where every X character is an integer between 0 and 9, and m is a course code following the format LL-XXX where each L character is a capital letter between A and Z and the X characters are integers between 0 and 9 like in the ID numbers. The objects are first compared by their ID number, and if the ID numbers are equal they are then compared by the course code, if both values are the same then the objects are equal, the c parameter is not taken into account in the comparison. I found out yesterday that I could compare strings directly in Kotlin in < and > relations, so I decided to try using that to make the task of comparing the InfoAcad objects a bit easier on myself, however when I make a main function to test the comparisons, the equality always returns a false value independently of what is in the string values of the InfoAcad objects. Here's said main function:
fun main() {
var A = InfoAcad("18-10125", "CI-2526", 3)
var B = InfoAcad("18-10125", "CI-2526", 5)
println("A = B: " + (A == B).toString()) //true
println("A < B: " + (A < B).toString()) //false
ptintln("A > B: " + (A > B).toString()) //false
}
When I change characters in the ID and course code values the inequality relations work just as intended, so what could be causing the equality relation to always return false? I appreciate and thank any responses in advance.
Note: I have also tried giving A and B the same c value, the equality part still returned false.
Override the equals function as well, or use a data class.
compareTo is only used for the < and > operators. The == operator is implemented by the separate equals function.
You can find the available operators, and the functions you need to override for each, in the Operator overloading section of the Kotlin docs.
If you don't override the equals function, the default behaviour is for it to use object identity. That means that two different objects, even if they contain the same fields, will never be considered equal.
There is however a nice shortcut for what you want to do! Kotlin will automatically generate an equals function for you if you make your class a data class. It's a good fit for classes like yours, whose main purpose is to hold data.
Because == and != translates to a call to equals(other: Any?): Boolean method, from kotlinlang
Expression Translated to
a == b a?.equals(b) ?: (b === null)
a != b !(a?.equals(b) ?: (b === null))
These operators only work with the function equals(other: Any?): Boolean, which can be overridden to provide custom equality check
implementation. Any other function with the same name (like
equals(other: Foo)) will not be called.
Related
example:
data class Test(val name: String, val age: Int)
val a = Test("a", 21)
val b = Test("b", 31)
val result = a == b // false
want result return true, what to do?
As per comments, it's not clear what you're aiming for here.
By default, two instances of data class are considered equal when all the properties in their primary constructor are equal. So in the question, two Tests will be equal when they have the same name and age:
println(Test("a", 1) == Test("a", 1)) // prints ‘true’
println(Test("a", 1) == Test("b", 1)) // prints ‘false’
println(Test("a", 1) == Test("a", 2)) // prints ‘false’
It looks like you want two Tests to be considered equal when they have the same name, even if they have different ages. To do that, you have two main options:
Override their equals() and hashCode()* methods:
data class Test(val name: String, val age: Int) {
override fun equals(other: Any?) = other is Test && other.name == name
override fun hashCode() = name.hashCode()
}
That gives Test a natural sense of equality, which will apply everywhere two Tests are checked, whether you're using ==, or putting them in a Set, or whatever.
Check the names explicitly at that point in your code:
val result = a.name == b.name
Obviously, that will only apply to that particular check, and won't affect anything else. So it's simpler for this one case, but you'd have to remember to repeat it anywhere else you want to check for equality in that way.
Which you choose depends on what Test means in your case, and whether checking only the name is the obvious, natural behaviour that you'll want by default.
(However, in the question, that will still result in a != b, because a and b have different names as well as different ages.)
(* It won't give you an error if you fail to override hashCode() as well, but that breaks the contract for equals() and is likely to give strange behaviour, such as not being able to find Test elements/keys you've added to sets/maps, errors or infinite loops when trying to sort a list of Tests, and so on.)
I can't figure out what ?: does in for example this case
val list = mutableList ?: mutableListOf()
and why can it be modified to this
val list = if (mutableList != null) mutableList else mutableListOf()
TL;DR: If the resulting object reference [first operand] is not null, it is returned. Otherwise the value of the second operand (which may be null) is returned. Additionally, the operator can throw an exception if null is returned.
The Elvis operator is part of many programming languages, e.g. Kotlin but also Groovy or C#.
I find the Wikipedia definition pretty accurate:
In certain computer programming languages, the Elvis operator ?: is a binary operator that returns its first operand if that operand is true, and otherwise evaluates and returns its second operand. It is a variant of the ternary conditional operator, ? :, found in those languages (and many others): the Elvis operator is the ternary operator with its second operand omitted.
The following is especially true for Kotlin:
Some computer programming languages have different semantics for this operator. Instead of the first operand having to result in a boolean, it must result in an object reference. If the resulting object reference is not null, it is returned. Otherwise the value of the second operand (which may be null) is returned. If the second operand is null, the operator is also able to throw an exception.
An example:
x ?: y // yields `x` if `x` is not null, `y` otherwise.
x ?: throw SomeException() // yields `x` if `x` is not null, throws SomeException otherwise
The Elvis Operator is represented by a question mark followed by a colon: ?: and it can be used with this syntax:
first operand ?: second operand
It enables you to write a consise code, and works as such:
If first operand isn't null, then it will be returned. If it is null, then the second operand will be returned. This can be used to guarantee that an expression won't return a null value, as you'll provide a non-nullable value if the provided value is null.
For example(in Kotlin):
fun retrieveString(): String { //Notice that this type isn't nullable
val nullableVariable: String? = getPotentialNull() //This variable may be null
return nullableVariable ?: "Secondary Not-Null String"
}
In this case, if the computed value of getPotentialNull is not null, it will be returned by retrieveString; If it is null, the second expression "Secondary Not-Null String" will be returned instead.
Also note that the right-hand side expression is evaluated only if the left-hand side is null.
In Kotlin, you could use any expression as second operand, such as a throw Exception expression
return nullVariable ?: throw IllegalResponseException("My inner function returned null! Oh no!")
The name Elvis Operator comes from the famous American singer Elvis Presley. His hairstyle resembles a Question Mark
Source: Wojda, I. Moskala, M. Android Development with Kotlin. 2017. Packt Publishing
This is called the Elvis operator and it does... Exactly what you've described in your question. If its left hand side is a null value, it returns the right side instead, sort of as a fallback. Otherwise it just returns the value on the left hand side.
a ?: b is just shorthand for if (a != null) a else b.
Some more examples with types:
val x: String? = "foo"
val y: String = x ?: "bar" // "foo", because x was non-null
val a: String? = null
val b: String = a ?: "bar" // "bar", because a was null
Let's take a look at the defintion:
When we have a nullable reference r, we can say "if r is not null, use
it, otherwise use some non-null value x":
The ?: (Elvis) operator avoids verbosity and makes your code really concise.
For example, a lot of collection extension functions return null as fallback.
listOf(1, 2, 3).firstOrNull { it == 4 } ?: throw IllegalStateException("Ups")
?: gives you a way to handle the fallback case elgantely even if you have multiple layers of fallback. If so, you can simply chain multiply Elvis operators, like here:
val l = listOf(1, 2, 3)
val x = l.firstOrNull { it == 4 } ?: l.firstOrNull { it == 5 } ?: throw IllegalStateException("Ups")
If you would express the same with if else it would be a lot more code which is harder to read.
The elvis operator in Kotlin is used for null safety.
x = a ?: b
In the above code, x will be assigned the value of a if a is not null and b if a is null.
The equivalent kotlin code without using the elvis operator is below:
x = if(a == null) b else a
Simply we can say that, you have two hands. You want to know, is your left hand working right now?. If left hand not working, return empty else busy
Example for Java:
private int a;
if(a != null){
println("a is not null, Value is: "+a)
}
else{
println("a is null")
}
Example for Kotlin:
val a : Int = 5
val l : Int = if (a != null) a.length else "a is null"
Consider below example,
var myStr:String? = null
//trying to find out length of myStr, but it could be null, so a null check can be put as,
val len = if (myStr != null){
myStr.length
}
else{
-1
}
Using the elvis operator, the above code can be written in a single line
val len = myStr?.length ?: -1 // will return -1 if myStr is null else will return length
In addition to what has been already stated there is one good pattern that was not obvious for me, but which is common, e.g. you're writing a long function, but if something is null there is no sense to continue and the only thing you can do is to return from the function. Normally you'd write
something = expression
if (something == null) {
return
}
With elvis it becomes shorter and more elegant:
something = expression ?: return
Basically, if the left side of Elvis returns null for some reason, returns the right side instead.
i.e.
val number: Int? = null
println(number ?: "Number is null")
So, if number is NOT null, it will print number, otherwise will print "Number is null".
A little addition though is this
X = A ?: B
X will still be null if both A and B evaluate to null
Therefore, if you want X to always be non-null, make sure B is always a non-null or that B always evaluates to non-null if it's a function or expression.
Is it possible to make the following code to compile in Kotlin?
val variable: String? = "string"
val (a, b) = variable?.run {
1 to 2
}
The compiler does not allow destructuring because the expression on the right-hand side is typed as a nullable Pair<Int, Int>?, and it's unclear what values a and b should get in case variable is null.
To solve this, you need to get a not-null expression after =.
There's a lot of different ways to deal with nullable values and produce a not-null value from a nullable one, see: In Kotlin, what is the idiomatic way to deal with nullable values, referencing or converting them
For example, if you want to provide fallback values for a and b, then use the ?: operator as follows:
val (a, b) = variable?.run {
1 to 2
} ?: (0 to 0)
An alternative, for example, would be to check variable for null first:
val (a, b) = checkNotNull(variable) { "variable should never be null" }.run {
1 to 2
}
Null doesn't have any destructuring declarations. If you want a value of null to destructure like it's a pair of nulls, you could add these extensions:
operator fun <T> Pair<T, *>?.component1() = this?.component1()
operator fun <T> Pair<*, T>?.component2() = this?.component2()
Otherwise, as the other answer shows, you need to provide a default using the Elvis operator.
It's not automatic because it doesn't know what you want. Depending on what you're doing with it, 0 to 0 may be most appropriate, or maybe -1 to -1 or 0 to null or null to null.
The question is, what do you want to do if your variable is null? If you want to throw an exception, go with require or check as #hotkey suggested.
However I have the case where I just want to return if the value is null. So I wrote myself a little helper function that allows for this:
private inline fun <T> T?.exitIfNull(exitBlock: () -> Nothing): T {
if (this == null)
exitBlock()
else
return this
}
You can call this function as follows:
val (a, b) = variable?.run {
1 to 2
}.exitIfNull {
return
}
A nice little use of the Nothing keyword in Kotlin that I personally find quite fascinating
I'm studying kotlin, but I'm very disappointed, I can not compare two Strings.
What is the right way to compare.
btn_login.setOnClickListener {
val login = input_email.text.trim()
val pass = input_password.text.trim()
if( login.equals( pass ) ){
startActivity<MainActivity>()
}
if (login?.equals(other = pass)){
startActivity<MainActivity>()
}
if (login == pass){
startActivity<MainActivity>()
}
}
According to documentation for structual equality use ==. It is translated to a?.equals(b) ?: (b === null).
In you case convert login and pass from SpannableStringBuilder to String.
val login = input_email.text.trim().toString()
Here is the example for matching the two strings using kotlin.
If you are using == (double equals) for matching the string then it's compare the address & return maximum time wrong result as per java documentation so use equals for the same
If you want to use equal ignore case then pass the true in the equals method of String
if (s1.equals(s2,true))
other wise you can just use this without boolean like
if (s1.equals(s2,false)) or if (s1.equals(s2))
compleate code is below
fun main(args: Array<String>) {
val s1 = "abc"
val s2 = "Abc"
if (s1.equals(s2,true))
{
println("Equal")
}
else
{
println("Not Equal")
}
}
Covert both the SpannableStringBuilder to string with toString, this should work.
val login = input_email.text.trim().toString()
val pass = input_password.text.trim().toString()
if (login == pass){
startActivity<MainActivity>()
}
1. == :
if ( string1 == string2 ){...}
2. equals :
Indicates whether some other object is "equal to" this one.
Implementations must fulfil the following requirements:
Reflexive: for any non-null reference value x, x.equals(x) should
return true.
Symmetric: for any non-null reference values x and y, x.equals(y)
should return true if and only if y.equals(x) returns true.
Transitive: for any non-null reference values x, y, and z, if
x.equals(y) returns true and y.equals(z) returns true, then
x.equals(z) should return true
Consistent: for any non-null reference values x and y, multiple
invocations of x.equals(y) consistently return true or consistently
return false, provided no information used in equals comparisons on
the objects is modified.
/** * Returns `true` if this string is equal to [other], optionally ignoring character case. * * #param ignoreCase `true` to ignore character case when comparing strings. By default `false`. */
public fun String?.equals(other: String?, ignoreCase: Boolean = false): Boolean
3. compareTo :
public override fun compareTo(other: String): Int
Compares this object with the specified object for order. Returns zero
if this object is equal to the specified other object, a negative
number if it's less than other, or a positive number if it's greater
than other.
public fun String.compareTo(other: String, ignoreCase: Boolean = false): Int
Compares two strings lexicographically, optionally ignoring case
differences
i know this is way too late, but as a newbie learning Kotlin, i had the same doubts.
then i came across this wonderful article that articulates the various string comparison types in Kotlin and the differences between them all.
in short both == and .equals() can be used to compare the value of 2 strings in kotlin.
hopefully that helps
With case checking
String a=.....
String b=.....
if(a==b){
}
IgnoreCase
if(a.equals(b,false))
KOTLIN:
if (editText1.text.toString() == editText2.text.toString() ) {
println("Should work now! The same value")
}
Try the following solution, see if it helps:
val passStr: String = textView.text.toString()
if( loginStr.compareTo(passStr, false) ){
startActivity<MainActivity>()
}
Try this surely will work.
val style = buildString { karthik}
val style2 = buildString { karthik }
var result = style.equals(style2)
if(result){//Do something}
Let's have a function foo and a class Bar:
fun foo(key: String): String? {
// returns string or null
}
class Bar(x: String, y: String) {
// ...
}
Now, let's have the code:
val x = foo("x")
val y = foo("y")
if (x.isNotEmpty() && y.isNotEmpty())
return Bar(x, y)
The problem is that this code will not compile. Since it needs the Bar(x!!, y!!).
However when I replace the function with its content, !! are not needed.
val x = foo("x")
val y = foo("y")
if ((x != null && x.length() > 0) && (y != null && y.length() > 0))
return Bar(x, y)
Why it is not possible to resolve the null check from the function .isNotEmpty()?
This is possible in theory, but it would mean that either
1. The declaration of isNotEmpty() must convey to the compiler the fact that x is guaranteed to be non-null if the result is true
2. A change to a body of any function may cause its call sites to fail to compile.
Option 2 is definitely unacceptable. Option 1 requires a rather expressive mechanism in the type system, which we decided not to add at the moment, because it is likely to complicate things for the user.
We are planning to support something like this with inline functions, but it's still under consideration.