You could test string.indexOf('<')!=-1, or you could just use the contains method:
class bleh
{
public static void main(String [] args)
{
String s = "something";
String t = "something<else";
if(s.contains("<"))
System.out.println("\"" + s + "\" has a <");
if(t.contains("<"))
System.out.println("\"" + t + "\" has a <");
}
} output:
jimmy@vera ~/code/randomStuff $ java bleh
"something<else" has a <