The method compareTo
should be used to compare BigDecimals
:
BigDecimal a = new BigDecimal(5);
a.compareTo(new BigDecimal(0)); // a is greater, returns 1
a.compareTo(new BigDecimal(5)); // a is equal, returns 0
a.compareTo(new BigDecimal(10)); // a is less, returns -1
Commonly you should not use the equals
method since it considers two BigDecimals
equal only if they are equal in value and also scale:
BigDecimal a = new BigDecimal(5);
a.equals(new BigDecimal(5)); // value and scale are equal, returns true
a.equals(new BigDecimal(5.00)); // value is equal but scale is not, returns false