Link List Assignment Operator

I wrote code for the overloaded = operator for a linked list, but for some reason it does nothing, and I cannot understand why.

the class containing the linked list is called String, and the struct ListNode is the nodes themselves.

ListNode:

struct ListNode
{
      char info;
      ListNode * next;
      ListNode(char newInfo, ListNode * newNext)
        : info( newInfo ), next( newNext )
      {
      }
};

String

class String {

    private:
        ListNode* head;

    public:
    String( const char * s = "");
    String( const String & s );
    String operator = ( const String & s );
    ~String();
}
ostream & operator << ( ostream & out, String& str );
istream & operator >> ( istream & in, String & str );

String.cpp:

String::String( const char * s) {
    if (s == "") {
        head = NULL;
        return;
    }

    ListNode* newNode = new ListNode(s[0], NULL);
    head = newNode;
    ListNode* current = head;
    for (int i = 1; s[i] != 0; current = current->next) {
        current->next = new ListNode(s[i], NULL);
        ++i;
    }
}

String::String(const String& s ) {

    ListNode* current = new ListNode((s.head)->info, NULL); //make all next null just in case
    head = current;
    for(ListNode* sstart = s.head->next; sstart != NULL; sstart = sstart->next) {
            current->next = new ListNode(sstart->info, NULL);
            current = current->next;
    }

}

//RETURN STRING BY REFERENCE OR COPY CONSTRUCTOR IS CALLED
String& String::operator = ( const String & s ) {
    ListNode* start = head;
    ListNode* tmp;
    while(start != NULL) {
        tmp = start->next;
        delete start;
        start = tmp;
    }

    head = NULL;

    if (s.head == NULL)
        return *this;    
    ListNode* current = new ListNode((s.head)->info, NULL); //make all next null just in case
    head = current;
    for(ListNode* sstart = s.head->next; sstart != NULL; sstart = sstart->next) {
            current->next = new ListNode(sstart->info, NULL);
            current = current->next;
    }

    return *this;

}

String::~String() {
    ListNode* nextNode = head;
    ListNode* tmp;
    while(nextNode) {
        tmp = nextNode->next;
        delete nextNode;
        nextNode = tmp;
    }
}

ostream & operator << ( ostream & out, String& str) {

    for (int i = 0; i < str.length(); ++i) {
        out << str[i];
    }
    return out;

}

istream & operator >> ( istream & in, String & str ) {
    int len = in.gcount();
    char* buf = new char[len];
    char inChar;
    for(int i = 0; in >> inChar; ++i) {
        buf[i] = inChar;        
    }
    String tmp(buf);
    str = tmp;
}

In the first loop, I delete the linked list that the head points to. After that, I set my head to NULL for the case when s does not contain anything. If this is not the case, I set the current as a copy of the first ListNode to s and save the current in the head (if I cross with the head, I lose the pointer to the beginning of the list). Finally, my second loop will “attach” the rest of s to the current.

, . , , , , , - . ?

EDIT: , .