How do I compare two arrays

In this Q&A, we'll go over how to compare two Arrays

Array is an object.  We can use the equals method to compare two arrays.  But, equals() checks for reference equality.  See the code below:

int[] ia = {1,2,3,4};
int[] iae = ia;
int[] iad = {1,2,3,4};
assertEquals( "Equals check", true, ia.equals(iae));
assertEquals( "Not equals check", false, ia.equals(iad));

Arrays class provides equals methods to compare arrays based on the equality of each element.  See demo code below:

int[] ia = {1,2,3,4};
int[] iad = {1,2,3,4};
assertEquals( "Equals check", true, Arrays.equals(ia, iad));

For nested arrays, the above code would check for reference equality of each nested array.  To do a deep compare, Arrays class provides a deepEquals() method that compares based on the equality of nested array elements