What is the difference between `Enum.name()` and `Enum.toString()`?

Use toString when you need to display the name to the user.

Use name when you need the name for your program itself, e.g. to identify and differentiate between different enum values.

Use toString() when you want to present information to a user (including a developer looking at a log). Never rely in your code on toString() giving a specific value. Never test it against a specific string. If your code breaks when someone correctly changes the toString() return, then it was already broken.

If you need to get the exact name used to declare the enum constant, you should use name() as toString may have been overridden.

The main difference between name() and toString() is that name() is a final method, so it cannot be overridden. The toString() method returns the same value that name() does by default, but toString() can be overridden by subclasses of Enum.

Therefore, if you need the name of the field itself, use name(). If you need a string representation of the value of the field, use toString().

For instance:

public enum WeekDay {
    MONDAY, TUESDAY, WEDNESDAY, THURSDAY, FRIDAY;

    public String toString() {
        return name().charAt(0) + name().substring(1).toLowerCase();
    }
}

In this example, WeekDay.MONDAY.name() returns "MONDAY", and WeekDay.MONDAY.toString() returns "Monday".

WeekDay.valueOf(WeekDay.MONDAY.name()) returns WeekDay.MONDAY, but WeekDay.valueOf(WeekDay.MONDAY.toString()) throws an IllegalArgumentException.