Compare two objects in Java with possible null values

Question

I want to compare two strings for equality in Java, when either or both could be null, so I cannot simply call .equals(). What is the best way?

boolean compare(String str1, String str2) {

    ...

}

return ((str1 == str2) || (str1 != null && str1.equals(str2)));

Answer 1

This is what Java internal code uses (on other compare methods):

public static boolean compare(String str1, String str2) {

    return (str1 == null ? str2 == null : str1.equals(str2));

}