@Override
    public boolean equals(Object o) {
        if (o instanceof AbstractUtf8Array) {
            AbstractUtf8Array other = (AbstractUtf8Array)o;
            return compareTo(other) == 0;
        } else if (o instanceof String) {
            return toString().equals(o);
        }
        return false;
    }
Returns the offset in the backing array where the utf8 sequence starts.
vespajlib/src/main/java/com/yahoo/text/AbstractUtf8Array.java