diff --git a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/helper/ProjectHelper2.java b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/helper/ProjectHelper2.java
index 6ae2d3236..34dfde30b 100644
--- a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/helper/ProjectHelper2.java
+++ b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/helper/ProjectHelper2.java
@@ -656,7 +656,7 @@ public class ProjectHelper2 extends ProjectHelper {
          */
         public AntHandler onStartChild(String uri, String name, String qname, Attributes attrs,
                                        AntXMLContext context) throws SAXParseException {
-            if (name.equals("project")
+            if ("project".equals(name)
                 && (uri.equals("") || uri.equals(ANT_CORE_URI))) {
                 return ProjectHelper2.projectHandler;
             }
@@ -721,13 +721,13 @@ public class ProjectHelper2 extends ProjectHelper {
                 String key = attrs.getLocalName(i);
                 String value = attrs.getValue(i);
 
-                if (key.equals("default")) {
+                if ("default".equals(key)) {
                     if (value != null && !value.equals("")) {
                         if (!context.isIgnoringProjectTag()) {
                             project.setDefault(value);
                         }
                     }
-                } else if (key.equals("name")) {
+                } else if ("name".equals(key)) {
                     if (value != null) {
                         context.setCurrentProjectName(value);
                         nameAttributeSet = true;
@@ -742,14 +742,14 @@ public class ProjectHelper2 extends ProjectHelper {
                             }
                         }
                     }
-                } else if (key.equals("id")) {
+                } else if ("id".equals(key)) {
                     if (value != null) {
                         // What's the difference between id and name ?
                         if (!context.isIgnoringProjectTag()) {
                             project.addReference(value, project);
                         }
                     }
-                } else if (key.equals("basedir")) {
+                } else if ("basedir".equals(key)) {
                     if (!context.isIgnoringProjectTag()) {
                         baseDir = value;
                     }
@@ -904,26 +904,26 @@ public class ProjectHelper2 extends ProjectHelper {
                 String key = attrs.getLocalName(i);
                 String value = attrs.getValue(i);
 
-                if (key.equals("name")) {
+                if ("name".equals(key)) {
                     name = value;
                     if ("".equals(name)) {
                         throw new BuildException("name attribute must " + "not be empty");
                     }
-                } else if (key.equals("depends")) {
+                } else if ("depends".equals(key)) {
                     depends = value;
-                } else if (key.equals("if")) {
+                } else if ("if".equals(key)) {
                     target.setIf(value);
-                } else if (key.equals("unless")) {
+                } else if ("unless".equals(key)) {
                     target.setUnless(value);
-                } else if (key.equals("id")) {
+                } else if ("id".equals(key)) {
                     if (value != null && !value.equals("")) {
                         context.getProject().addReference(value, target);
                     }
-                } else if (key.equals("description")) {
+                } else if ("description".equals(key)) {
                     target.setDescription(value);
-                } else if (key.equals("extensionOf")) {
+                } else if ("extensionOf".equals(key)) {
                     extensionPoint = value;
-                } else if (key.equals("onMissingExtensionPoint")) {
+                } else if ("onMissingExtensionPoint".equals(key)) {
                     try {
                         extensionPointMissing = OnMissingExtensionPoint.valueOf(value);
                     } catch (IllegalArgumentException e) {
diff --git a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/helper/ProjectHelperImpl.java b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/helper/ProjectHelperImpl.java
index ebed3a279..4b159f30c 100644
--- a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/helper/ProjectHelperImpl.java
+++ b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/helper/ProjectHelperImpl.java
@@ -327,7 +327,7 @@ public class ProjectHelperImpl extends ProjectHelper {
          *                              <code>"project"</code>
          */
         public void startElement(String tag, AttributeList attrs) throws SAXParseException {
-            if (tag.equals("project")) {
+            if ("project".equals(tag)) {
                 new ProjectHandler(helperImpl, this).init(tag, attrs);
             } else {
                 throw new SAXParseException("Config file is not of expected " + "XML type",
@@ -388,13 +388,13 @@ public class ProjectHelperImpl extends ProjectHelper {
                 String key = attrs.getName(i);
                 String value = attrs.getValue(i);
 
-                if (key.equals("default")) {
+                if ("default".equals(key)) {
                     def = value;
-                } else if (key.equals("name")) {
+                } else if ("name".equals(key)) {
                     name = value;
-                } else if (key.equals("id")) {
+                } else if ("id".equals(key)) {
                     id = value;
-                } else if (key.equals("basedir")) {
+                } else if ("basedir".equals(key)) {
                     baseDir = value;
                 } else {
                     throw new SAXParseException(
@@ -454,7 +454,7 @@ public class ProjectHelperImpl extends ProjectHelper {
          *            or a data type definition
          */
         public void startElement(String name, AttributeList attrs) throws SAXParseException {
-            if (name.equals("target")) {
+            if ("target".equals(name)) {
                 handleTarget(name, attrs);
             } else {
                 handleElement(helperImpl, this, helperImpl.implicitTarget, name, attrs);
@@ -524,21 +524,21 @@ public class ProjectHelperImpl extends ProjectHelper {
                 String key = attrs.getName(i);
                 String value = attrs.getValue(i);
 
-                if (key.equals("name")) {
+                if ("name".equals(key)) {
                     name = value;
                     if (name.equals("")) {
                         throw new BuildException("name attribute must not" + " be empty",
                                 new Location(helperImpl.locator));
                     }
-                } else if (key.equals("depends")) {
+                } else if ("depends".equals(key)) {
                     depends = value;
-                } else if (key.equals("if")) {
+                } else if ("if".equals(key)) {
                     ifCond = value;
-                } else if (key.equals("unless")) {
+                } else if ("unless".equals(key)) {
                     unlessCond = value;
-                } else if (key.equals("id")) {
+                } else if ("id".equals(key)) {
                     id = value;
-                } else if (key.equals("description")) {
+                } else if ("description".equals(key)) {
                     description = value;
                 } else {
                     throw new SAXParseException("Unexpected attribute \"" + key + "\"",
@@ -599,7 +599,7 @@ public class ProjectHelperImpl extends ProjectHelper {
      */
     private static void handleElement(ProjectHelperImpl helperImpl, DocumentHandler parent,
             Target target, String elementName, AttributeList attrs) throws SAXParseException {
-        if (elementName.equals("description")) {
+        if ("description".equals(elementName)) {
             // created for side effect
             new DescriptionHandler(helperImpl, parent); //NOSONAR
         } else if (helperImpl.project.getDataTypeDefinitions().get(elementName) != null) {
diff --git a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/optional/net/FTP.java b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/optional/net/FTP.java
index 13b418de3..c55234442 100644
--- a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/optional/net/FTP.java
+++ b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/optional/net/FTP.java
@@ -508,8 +508,8 @@ public class FTP extends Task implements FTPTaskConfig {
                 for (int i = 0; i < newfiles.length; i++) {
                     FTPFile file = newfiles[i];
                     if (file != null
-                        && !file.getName().equals(".")
-                        && !file.getName().equals("..")) {
+                        && !".".equals(file.getName())
+                        && !"..".equals(file.getName())) {
                         String name = vpath + file.getName();
                         scannedDirs.put(name, new FTPFileProxy(file));
                         if (isFunctioningAsDirectory(ftp, dir, file)) {