[vb.net] comparing strings in vb

Hopefully this should be an easy question. In java i think it's compareTo().

How do I compare 2 string variables to determine if they are the same?

ie:

If (string1 = string2 And string3 = string4) Then
    'perform operation
Else
    'perform another operation
End If

In vb.net you can actually compare strings with =. Even though String is a reference type, in vb.net = on String has been redefined to do a case-sensitive comparison of contents of the two strings.

You can test this with the following code. Note that I have taken one of the values from user input to ensure that the compiler cannot use the same reference for the two variables like the Java compiler would if variables were defined from the same string Literal. Run the program, type "This" and press <Enter>.

Sub Main()
    Dim a As String = New String("This")
    Dim b As String

    b = Console.ReadLine()

    If a = b Then
        Console.WriteLine("They are equal")
    Else
        Console.WriteLine("Not equal")
    End If
    Console.ReadLine()
End Sub

I think this String.Equals is what you need.

Dim aaa = "12/31"
            Dim a = String.Equals(aaa, "06/30")

a will return false.

If String.Compare(string1,string2,True) Then

    'perform operation

EndIf

I know this has been answered, but in VB.net above 2013 (the lowest I've personally used) you can just compare strings with an = operator. This is the easiest way.

So basically:

If string1 = string2 Then
    'do a thing
End If

Dim MyString As String = "Hello World"
Dim YourString As String = "Hello World"
Console.WriteLine(String.Equals(MyString, YourString))

returns a bool True. This comparison is case-sensitive.

So in your example,

if String.Equals(string1, string2) and String.Equals(string3, string4) then
  ' do something
else
  ' do something else
end if