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strcmp [C++ Reference]
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<h2><a name="strcmp" id="strcmp">strcmp</a></h2>
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<p>
Syntax:
</p>
<pre class="c code c++" style="font-family:monospace;"> <span class="co2">#include <cstring></span>
<span class="kw4">int</span> strcmp<span class="br0">(</span> <span class="kw4">const</span> <span class="kw4">char</span> <span class="sy0">*</span>str1<span class="sy0">,</span> <span class="kw4">const</span> <span class="kw4">char</span> <span class="sy0">*</span>str2 <span class="br0">)</span><span class="sy0">;</span></pre>
<p>
The function strcmp() compares str1 and str2, then returns:
</p>
<table class="inline">
<tr class="row0">
<th class="col0 leftalign">Return value </th><th class="col1">Explanation</th>
</tr>
<tr class="row1">
<td class="col0 leftalign">less than 0 </td><td class="col1"><code>str1</code> is less than <code>str2</code></td>
</tr>
<tr class="row2">
<td class="col0 leftalign">equal to 0 </td><td class="col1"><code>str1</code> is equal to <code>str2</code></td>
</tr>
<tr class="row3">
<td class="col0">greater than 0 </td><td class="col1"><code>str1</code> is greater than <code>str2</code></td>
</tr>
</table>
<p>
For example:
</p>
<pre class="c code c++" style="font-family:monospace;"> <a href="http://www.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/009695399/functions/printf.html"><span class="kw3">printf</span></a><span class="br0">(</span> <span class="st0">"Enter your name: "</span> <span class="br0">)</span><span class="sy0">;</span>
scanf<span class="br0">(</span> <span class="st0">"%s"</span><span class="sy0">,</span> name <span class="br0">)</span><span class="sy0">;</span>
<span class="kw1">if</span><span class="br0">(</span> strcmp<span class="br0">(</span> name<span class="sy0">,</span> <span class="st0">"Mary"</span> <span class="br0">)</span> <span class="sy0">==</span> 0 <span class="br0">)</span> <span class="br0">{</span>
<a href="http://www.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/009695399/functions/printf.html"><span class="kw3">printf</span></a><span class="br0">(</span> <span class="st0">"Hello, Dr. Mary!<span class="es1">\n</span>"</span> <span class="br0">)</span><span class="sy0">;</span>
<span class="br0">}</span></pre>
<p>
Note that if str1 or str2 are missing a null-termination character, then strcmp
() may not produce valid results. For a similar (and safer) function that
includes explicit bounds checking, see strncmp().
</p>
<p>
Related Topics: <a href="../../c/string/memcmp.html" class="wikilink1" title="c:string:memcmp">memcmp</a>, <a href="../../c/string/strcat.html" class="wikilink1" title="c:string:strcat">strcat</a>, <a href="../../c/string/strchr.html" class="wikilink1" title="c:string:strchr">strchr</a>, <a href="../../c/string/strcoll.html" class="wikilink1" title="c:string:strcoll">strcoll</a>, <a href="../../c/string/strcpy.html" class="wikilink1" title="c:string:strcpy">strcpy</a>, <a href="../../c/string/strlen.html" class="wikilink1" title="c:string:strlen">strlen</a>, <a href="../../c/string/strncmp.html" class="wikilink1" title="c:string:strncmp">strncmp</a>, <a href="../../c/string/strxfrm.html" class="wikilink1" title="c:string:strxfrm">strxfrm</a>
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