// Problem with StringBuffer.equals or StringBuilder.equals

StringBuffer sb = new StringBuffer( 10 );
sb.append( "something" );
if ( sb.equals( "something" ) )
  {
  // this won't print, as you might expect
  out.println( "match" );
  }

// Instead you must write:
if ( sb.toString().equals( "something" ) )
  {
  // then it will print
  out.println( "match" );
  }