What is string intern() in Scala?

The method intern() in Scala is used to return an interned string. By interned, it means that the method returns a canonical presentation of the string object that is passed.

In programming, a canonical representation means according to rules. The canonical representation of a string object is the textual part of the string itself with the escape values like \n, \t, \' applied to the string.

Syntax

string.intern()

Calling the method returns a canonical representation of the string that is being used.

Code

object Main extends App {
// introducting some string
val str1 = "Hello world!"
val result = "Hello, \t \t Welcome to Educative.".intern()
// Displays output as string itself, with \t applied.
println(str1.intern())
println(result)
// a string is same as its intern string.
println("is str1 == str1.intern? ", str1 == str1.intern())
}

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