Most efficient method to compare strings

[xmike1]

I need to find an efficient method of comparing each character in one string to each character in another string.

So for example, I will have a fixed 10 character string and I will want to compare it to each form field that is included in an HTTP request. As I cycle through the fields I will be doing the comparison.

This will be done many times so I want to have as little overhead as possible.

BTW I am using Java 2 - v1.3.1, so I do not have access to the regex package which came out with 1.4.

[ray326]

The only way that comes to mind would be as efficient as anything. Iterate through the parameters and use .equals() or .equalsIgnoreCase() to compare their values to your string.