这通常是因为读取的字符串包含了不可见的空格或者换行符。可以使用trim()函数去除字符串的首尾空格。示例代码如下:
BufferedReader reader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(System.in));
String inputString = reader.readLine().trim();
String literalString = "example";
if (inputString.equals(literalString)) {
System.out.println("Strings are equal.");
} else {
System.out.println("Strings are not equal.");
}