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Object::Equals Method (Object, Object)

Updated: August 2012

Determines whether the specified object instances are considered equal.

Namespace:  System
Assembly:  mscorlib (in mscorlib.dll)

public:
static bool Equals(
	Object^ objA, 
	Object^ objB
)

Parameters

objA
Type: System::Object

The first object to compare.

objB
Type: System::Object

The second object to compare.

Return Value

Type: System::Boolean
true if the objects are considered equal; otherwise, false. If both objA and objB are null, the method returns true.

The static Equals method indicates whether two objects, objA and objB, are equal. It also enables you to test objects whose value is null for equality. It compares objA and objB for equality as follows:

  • It determines whether the two objects represent the same object reference. If they do, the method returns true. This test is equivalent to calling the ReferenceEquals method. In addition, if both objA and objB are null, the method returns true.

  • It determines whether either objA or objB is null. If so, it returns false.

  • If the two objects do not represent the same object reference and neither is null, it calls objA.Equals(objB) and returns the result. This means that if objA overrides the Object::Equals(Object) method, this override is called.

The following example illustrates the Equals method and compares it with the ReferenceEquals method.

No code example is currently available or this language may not be supported.

Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP SP2, Windows XP Media Center Edition, Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, Windows XP Starter Edition, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2000 SP4, Windows Millennium Edition, Windows 98, Windows CE, Windows Mobile for Smartphone, Windows Mobile for Pocket PC, Xbox 360, Zune

The .NET Framework and .NET Compact Framework do not support all versions of every platform. For a list of the supported versions, see .NET Framework System Requirements.

.NET Framework

Supported in: 3.5, 3.0, 2.0, 1.1, 1.0

.NET Compact Framework

Supported in: 3.5, 2.0

XNA Framework

Supported in: 3.0, 2.0, 1.0

Date

History

Reason

August 2012

Revised extensively.

Customer feedback.

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