ARRAY_EQUALS

Summary

• Rule ID: ARRAY_EQUALS
• Name: Array equals
• Problem: Comparing array values with == or equals() checks identity, not element equality.

What This Rule Reports

This rule reports array comparisons when code compares array references directly.

Java Example (reported)

class ClassA {
    boolean methodOne(String[] varOne, String[] varTwo) {
        return varOne == varTwo;
    }

    boolean methodTwo(String[] varOne, String[] varTwo) {
        return varOne.equals(varTwo);
    }
}

What This Rule Does Not Report

• java.util.Arrays.equals(varOne, varTwo)
• Null checks such as varOne == null
• Comparisons on non-array references
• Element-level comparisons inside loops

Java Example (not reported)

import java.util.Arrays;

class ClassA {
    boolean methodOne(String[] varOne, String[] varTwo) {
        return Arrays.equals(varOne, varTwo);
    }
}

Recommended Fix

Use Arrays.equals(...) (or Arrays.deepEquals(...) for nested arrays) when the intent is value comparison.

Message Shape

Findings explain that array comparison is done by reference and should use Arrays.equals.