Understanding the ActionScript Language > Using operators to manipulate values in expressions > Equality operators |  |

Equality operators

You can use the equality (`==`) operator to determine whether the values or identities of two operands are equal. This comparison returns a Boolean (`true` or `false`) value. If the operands are strings, numbers, or Boolean values, they are compared by value. If the operands are objects or arrays, they are compared by reference.

It is a common mistake to use the assignment operator to check for equality. For example, the following code compares x to 2:

    if (x == 2)

In that same example, the expression `x = 2` is incorrect because it doesn't compare the operands, it assigns the value of 2 to the variable `x`.

The strict equality (`===`) operator is like the equality operator, with one important difference: the strict equality operator does not perform type conversion. If the two operands are of different types, the strict equality operator returns `false`. The strict inequality (`!==`) operator returns the inversion of the strict equality operator.

The following table lists the ActionScript equality operators:

Operator | Operation performed
`==` | Equality
`===` | Strict equality
`!=` | Inequality
`!==` | Strict inequality