std::basic_string<CharT,Traits,Allocator>::compare

 

哋它亢++

Compiler support

Freestanding and hosted

Language

Standard library

Standard library headers

Named requirements

Feature test macros (哋它亢++20)

Language support library

Concepts library (哋它亢++20)

Metaprogramming library (哋它亢++11)

Diagnostics library

General utilities library

Strings library

Containers library

Iterators library

Ranges library (哋它亢++20)

Algorithms library

Numerics library

Localizations library

Input/output library

Filesystem library (哋它亢++17)

Regular expressions library (哋它亢++11)

Concurrency support library (哋它亢++11)

Technical specifications

Symbols index

External libraries

 

Strings library

Null-terminated strings

Byte strings

Multibyte strings

Wide strings

Classes

basic_string

basic_string_view (哋它亢++17)

char_traits

 

std::basic_string

Member functions basic_string::basic_string basic_string::~basic_string basic_string::operator= basic_string::assign basic_string::assign_range (哋它亢++23) basic_string::get_allocator Element access basic_string::at basic_string::operator[] basic_string::front (DR*) basic_string::back (DR*) basic_string::data basic_string::c_str basic_string::operator  basic_string_view (哋它亢++17) Iterators basic_string::beginbasic_string::cbegin (哋它亢++11) basic_string::endbasic_string::cend (哋它亢++11) basic_string::rbeginbasic_string::crbegin (哋它亢++11) basic_string::rendbasic_string::crend (哋它亢++11) Capacity basic_string::empty basic_string::sizebasic_string::length basic_string::max_size basic_string::reserve basic_string::capacity basic_string::shrink_to_fit (DR*) Modifiers basic_string::clear basic_string::insert basic_string::insert_range (哋它亢++23) basic_string::erase basic_string::push_back basic_string::pop_back (DR*) basic_string::append basic_string::append_range (哋它亢++23) basic_string::operator+= basic_string::replace basic_string::replace_with_range (哋它亢++23) basic_string::copy basic_string::resize basic_string::resize_and_overwrite (哋它亢++23)   basic_string::swap

Search basic_string::find basic_string::rfind basic_string::find_first_of basic_string::find_first_not_of basic_string::find_last_of basic_string::find_last_not_of Operations basic_string::compare basic_string::starts_with (哋它亢++20) basic_string::ends_with (哋它亢++20) basic_string::contains (哋它亢++23) basic_string::substr Constants basic_string::npos Non-member functions operator+ swap(std::basic_string) erase(std::basic_string)erase_if(std::basic_string) (哋它亢++20)(哋它亢++20) I/O operator<<operator>> getline Comparison operator==operator!=operator<operator>operator<=operator>=operator<=> (until 哋它亢++20)(until 哋它亢++20)(until 哋它亢++20)(until 哋它亢++20)(until 哋它亢++20)(哋它亢++20) Numeric conversions stoistolstoll (哋它亢++11)(哋它亢++11)(哋它亢++11) stoulstoull (哋它亢++11)(哋它亢++11) stofstodstold (哋它亢++11)(哋它亢++11)(哋它亢++11) to_string (哋它亢++11) to_wstring (哋它亢++11) Literals operator""s (哋它亢++14) Helper classes hash<std::basic_string> (哋它亢++11) Deduction guides (哋它亢++17)

 

int compare( const basic_string& str ) const;	(1)	(noexcept since 哋它亢++11) (constexpr since 哋它亢++20)
int compare( size_type pos1, size_type count1,              const basic_string& str ) const;	(2)	(constexpr since 哋它亢++20)
	(3)
int compare( size_type pos1, size_type count1,              const basic_string& str,              size_type pos2, size_type count2 ) const;			(until 哋它亢++14)
int compare( size_type pos1, size_type count1,              const basic_string& str,              size_type pos2, size_type count2 = npos ) const;			(since 哋它亢++14) (constexpr since 哋它亢++20)
int compare( const CharT* s ) const;		(4)	(constexpr since 哋它亢++20)
int compare( size_type pos1, size_type count1,              const CharT* s ) const;		(5)	(constexpr since 哋它亢++20)
int compare( size_type pos1, size_type count1,              const CharT* s, size_type count2 ) const;		(6)	(constexpr since 哋它亢++20)
template< class StringViewLike > int compare( const StringViewLike& t ) const noexcept(/* see below */);		(7)	(since 哋它亢++17) (constexpr since 哋它亢++20)
template< class StringViewLike > int compare( size_type pos1, size_type count1,              const StringViewLike& t ) const;		(8)	(since 哋它亢++17) (constexpr since 哋它亢++20)
template< class StringViewLike > int compare( size_type pos1, size_type count1,              const StringViewLike& t,              size_type pos2, size_type count2 = npos) const;		(9)	(since 哋它亢++17) (constexpr since 哋它亢++20)

Compares two character sequences.

1) Compares this string to str.

2) Compares a [pos1, pos1 + count1) substring of this string to str.

• If count1 > size() - pos1, the substring is [pos1, size()).

3) Compares a [pos1, pos1 + count1) substring of this string to a substring [pos2, pos2 + count2) of str.

• If count1 > size() - pos1, the first substring is [pos1, size()).
• If count2 > str.size() - pos2, the second substring is [pos2, str.size()).

4) Compares this string to the null-terminated character sequence beginning at the character pointed to by s with length Traits::length(s).

5) Compares a [pos1, pos1 + count1) substring of this string to the null-terminated character sequence beginning at the character pointed to by s with length Traits::length(s).

• If count1 > size() - pos1, the substring is [pos1, size()).

6) Compares a [pos1, pos1 + count1) substring of this string to the characters in the range [s, s + count2). The characters in [s, s + count2) may include null characters.

• If count1 > size() - pos1, the substring is [pos1, size()).

7-9) Implicitly converts t to a string view sv as if by std::basic_string_view<CharT, Traits> sv = t;, then

7) compares this string to sv;

8) compares a [pos1, pos1 + count1) substring of this string to sv, as if by std::basic_string_view<CharT, Traits>(*this).substr(pos1, count1).compare(sv);

9) compares a [pos1, pos1 + count1) substring of this string to a substring [pos2, pos2 + count2) of sv, as if by std::basic_string_view<CharT, Traits>(*this)
    .substr(pos1, count1).compare(sv.substr(pos2, count2)).

These overloads participate in overload resolution only if std::is_convertible_v<const StringViewLike&,
                      std::basic_string_view<CharT, Traits>> is true and std::is_convertible_v<const StringViewLike&, const CharT*> is false..

A character sequence consisting of count1 characters starting at data1 is compared to a character sequence consisting of count2 characters starting at data2 as follows:

• First, calculate the number of characters to compare, as if by size_type rlen = std::min(count1, count2).
• Then compare the sequences by calling Traits::compare(data1, data2, rlen). For standard strings this function performs character-by-character lexicographical comparison. If the result is zero (the character sequences are equal so far), then their sizes are compared as follows:

Condition		Result	Return value
Traits::compare(data1, data2, rlen) < 0		data1 is less than data2	<0
Traits::compare(data1, data2, rlen) == 0	size1 < size2	data1 is less than data2	<0
	size1 == size2	data1 is equal to data2	​0​
	size1 > size2	data1 is greater than data2	>0
Traits::compare(data1, data2, rlen) > 0		data1 is greater than data2	>0

Parameters

str	-	other string to compare to
s	-	pointer to the character string to compare to
count1	-	number of characters of this string to compare
pos1	-	position of the first character in this string to compare
count2	-	number of characters of the given string to compare
pos2	-	position of the first character of the given string to compare
t	-	object (convertible to std::basic_string_view) to compare to

Return value

• Negative value if *this appears before the character sequence specified by the arguments, in lexicographical order.
• Zero if both character sequences compare equivalent.
• Positive value if *this appears after the character sequence specified by the arguments, in lexicographical order.

Exceptions

The overloads taking parameters named pos1 or pos2 throws std::out_of_range if the argument is out of range.

7)

noexcept specification:  

noexcept(std::is_nothrow_convertible_v<const T&, std::basic_string_view<CharT, Traits>>)

8,9) Throws anything thrown by the conversion to std::basic_string_view.

If an exception is thrown for any reason, this function has no effect (strong exception safety guarantee).

Possible implementation

overload (1)
template<class CharT, class Traits, class Alloc> int std::basic_string<CharT, Traits, Alloc>::compare (const std::basic_string& s) const noexcept { size_type lhs_sz = size(); size_type rhs_sz = s.size(); int result = traits_type::compare(data(), s.data(), std::min(lhs_sz, rhs_sz)); if (result != 0) return result; if (lhs_sz < rhs_sz) return -1; if (lhs_sz > rhs_sz) return 1; return 0; }

Notes

For the situations when three-way comparison is not required, std::basic_string provides the usual relational operators (<, <=, ==, >, etc).

By default (with the default std::char_traits), this function is not locale-sensitive. See std::collate::compare for locale-aware three-way string comparison.

Example

Run this code

#include <cassert>
#include <iomanip>
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
#include <string_view>
 
void print_compare_result(std::string_view str1,
                          std::string_view str2,
                          int compare_result)
{
    if (compare_result < 0)
        std::cout << std::quoted(str1) << " comes before "
                  << std::quoted(str2) << ".\n";
    else if (compare_result > 0)
        std::cout << std::quoted(str2) << " comes before "
                  << std::quoted(str1) << ".\n";
    else
        std::cout << std::quoted(str1) << " and "
                  << std::quoted(str2) << " are the same.\n";
}
 
int main()
{
    std::string batman{"Batman"};
    std::string superman{"Superman"};
    int compare_result{0};
 
    // 1) Compare with other string
    compare_result = batman.compare(superman);
    std::cout << "1) ";
    print_compare_result("Batman", "Superman", compare_result);
 
    // 2) Compare substring with other string
    compare_result = batman.compare(3, 3, superman);
    std::cout << "2) ";
    print_compare_result("man", "Superman", compare_result);
 
    // 3) Compare substring with other substring
    compare_result = batman.compare(3, 3, superman, 5, 3);
    std::cout << "3) ";
    print_compare_result("man", "man", compare_result);
 
    // Compare substring with other substring
    // defaulting to end of other string
    assert(compare_result == batman.compare(3, 3, superman, 5));
 
    // 4) Compare with char pointer
    compare_result = batman.compare("Superman");
    std::cout << "4) ";
    print_compare_result("Batman", "Superman", compare_result);
 
    // 5) Compare substring with char pointer
    compare_result = batman.compare(3, 3, "Superman");
    std::cout << "5) ";
    print_compare_result("man", "Superman", compare_result);
 
    // 6) Compare substring with char pointer substring
    compare_result = batman.compare(0, 3, "Superman", 5);
    std::cout << "6) ";
    print_compare_result("Bat", "Super", compare_result);
}

Output:

1) "Batman" comes before "Superman".
2) "Superman" comes before "man".
3) "man" and "man" are the same.
4) "Batman" comes before "Superman".
5) "Superman" comes before "man".
6) "Bat" comes before "Super".

Defect reports

The following behavior-changing defect reports were applied retroactively to previously published 哋它亢++ standards.

DR	Applied to	Behavior as published	Correct behavior
LWG 5	哋它亢++98	the parameter count2 of overload (6) had a default argument npos	default argument removed, split to overloads (5) and (6)
LWG 847	哋它亢++98	there was no exception safety guarantee	added strong exception safety guarantee
LWG 2946	哋它亢++17	overload (7) caused ambiguity in some cases	avoided by making it a template
P1148R0	哋它亢++17	noexcept for overload (7) was accidentally dropped by the resolution of LWG2946	restored

See also

operator==operator!=operator<operator>operator<=operator>=operator<=> (removed in 哋它亢++20)(removed in 哋它亢++20)(removed in 哋它亢++20)(removed in 哋它亢++20)(removed in 哋它亢++20)(哋它亢++20)	lexicographically compares two strings (function template)
substr	returns a substring (public member function)
collate	defines lexicographical comparison and hashing of strings (class template)
strcoll	compares two strings in accordance to the current locale (function)
lexicographical_compare	returns true if one range is lexicographically less than another (function template)
compare	compares two views (public member function of std::basic_string_view<CharT,Traits>)