String comparison and equality in C Sharp (C#) - Step-by-Step Execution

Concept Flow - String comparison and equality

Start

↓

Get string1

↓

Get string2

↓

Compare strings

↓

Are strings equal?

Yes→Output: Equal

↓

Output: Not Equal

↓

End

This flow shows how two strings are taken, compared for equality, and then outputs if they are equal or not.

Execution Sample

C Sharp (C#)

string s1 = "Hello";
string s2 = "hello";
bool areEqual = s1 == s2;
Console.WriteLine(areEqual);

This code compares two strings for equality and prints True or False.

Execution Table

Step	Variable/Expression	Value	Condition/Check	Action/Output
1	s1	"Hello"	N/A	Assign string "Hello" to s1
2	s2	"hello"	N/A	Assign string "hello" to s2
3	areEqual = s1 == s2	False	Compare "Hello" == "hello"	Result is False because of case difference
4	Console.WriteLine(areEqual)	False	Print value of areEqual	Output: False

💡 Comparison done, output printed, program ends.

Variable Tracker

Variable	Start	After Step 1	After Step 2	After Step 3	Final
s1	null	"Hello"	"Hello"	"Hello"	"Hello"
s2	null	null	"hello"	"hello"	"hello"
areEqual	undefined	undefined	undefined	False	False

Key Moments - 2 Insights

Why does s1 == s2 return False even though the words look similar?

Because string comparison in C# is case-sensitive by default, "Hello" and "hello" differ in letter case, so the comparison returns False as shown in step 3 of the execution_table.

Can we use == to compare strings safely in C#?

Yes, == compares string contents, not references, so it works for equality checks as shown in step 3. But it is case-sensitive.

Visual Quiz - 3 Questions

Look at the execution_table, what is the value of areEqual at step 3?

A False

B True

C null

D Undefined

💡 Hint

Check the 'Value' column at step 3 in execution_table.

At which step is the output printed to the console?

A Step 1

B Step 2

C Step 4

D Step 3

💡 Hint

Look for Console.WriteLine action in the execution_table.

If s2 was "Hello" instead of "hello", what would be the value of areEqual at step 3?

A False

B True

C null

D Undefined

💡 Hint

Consider how == compares strings case-sensitively as shown in step 3.

Concept Snapshot

String comparison in C# uses == to check if contents are equal.
Comparison is case-sensitive by default.
"Hello" == "hello" is False.
Use String.Equals with StringComparison for case-insensitive checks.
Console.WriteLine prints the boolean result.

Full Transcript

This example shows how two strings s1 and s2 are assigned values "Hello" and "hello" respectively. Then, the equality operator == compares them. Because C# string comparison is case-sensitive, the result is False. Finally, the program prints False to the console. Beginners often wonder why similar words are not equal; it's due to case sensitivity. The == operator compares string contents, not references, so it is safe for equality checks. If both strings had the same case, the result would be True.