This example will show you how to implement the equals() and hashCode() object using java.util.Objects class. The Objects class provides a set of utility methods to work with object such as comparing two objects for equality and calculating the hashcode. Other methods include object null check methods, object to string method, etc.

To demonstrate equals() and hash() methods we’ll create a simple POJO called Student with a couple of properties such as id, name and dateOfBirth.

package org.kodejava.util.support;

import java.time.LocalDate;
import java.util.Objects;

public class Student {
    private Long id;
    private String name;
    private LocalDate dateOfBirth;

    public Student() {
    }

    public Student(Long id, String name, LocalDate dateOfBirth) {
        this.id = id;
        this.name = name;
        this.dateOfBirth = dateOfBirth;
    }

    public Long getId() {
        return id;
    }

    public void setId(Long id) {
        this.id = id;
    }

    public String getName() {
        return name;
    }

    public void setName(String name) {
        this.name = name;
    }

    public LocalDate getDateOfBirth() {
        return dateOfBirth;
    }

    public void setDateOfBirth(LocalDate dateOfBirth) {
        this.dateOfBirth = dateOfBirth;
    }

    @Override
    public boolean equals(Object o) {
        if (this == o) return true;
        if (o == null || getClass() != o.getClass()) return false;

        Student that = (Student) o;
        return Objects.equals(this.id, that.id)
                && Objects.equals(this.name, that.name)
                && Objects.equals(this.dateOfBirth, that.dateOfBirth);
    }

    @Override
    public int hashCode() {
        return Objects.hash(id, name, dateOfBirth);
    }
}

Using the Objects.equals() and Objects.hash() methods in the Student class makes the implementation of the equals() method and the hashCode() method concise, easy to read and to understand. The Objects utility class will operate in a null-safe way which means that it will check for a null fields of the object.

The code snippet below will demonstrate the use of Student class. Which will compare objects using the equals() method and print out the calculated hashcode of the object.

package org.kodejava.util;

import org.kodejava.util.support.Student;

import java.time.LocalDate;
import java.time.Month;

public class EqualsHashCodeExample {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        Student student1 = new Student(1L, "Alice", LocalDate.of(1990, Month.APRIL, 1));
        Student student2 = new Student(1L, "Alice", LocalDate.of(1990, Month.APRIL, 1));
        Student student3 = new Student(2L, "Bob", LocalDate.of(1992, Month.DECEMBER, 21));

        System.out.println("student1.equals(student2) = " + student1.equals(student2));
        System.out.println("student1.equals(student3) = " + student1.equals(student3));
        System.out.println("student1.hashCode() = " + student1.hashCode());
        System.out.println("student2.hashCode() = " + student2.hashCode());
        System.out.println("student3.hashCode() = " + student3.hashCode());
    }
}

And here are the result of the code snippet above:

student1.equals(student2) = true
student1.equals(student3) = false
student1.hashCode() = 1967967937
student2.hashCode() = 1967967937
student3.hashCode() = 6188033

Another approach for implementing the equals() and hashCode() method is using the Apache Commons Lang library. And example of it can be seen here: How to implement the hashCode and equals method using Apache Commons?.