NAME

strcmp, strncmp — compare strings

SYNOPSIS

#include <string.h>

int
strcmp(const char *s1, const char *s2);

int
strncmp(const char *s1, const char *s2, size_t len);

DESCRIPTION

The strcmp() and strncmp() functions lexicographically compare the NUL-terminated strings s1 and s2. The strncmp() function compares at most len characters.

RETURN VALUES

The strcmp() and strncmp() functions return an integer greater than, equal to, or less than 0, according to whether the string s1 is greater than, equal to, or less than the string s2. The comparison is done using unsigned characters, so that ‘\200’ is greater than ‘\0’.

SEE ALSO

bcmp(3), memcmp(3), strcasecmp(3), strcoll(3), strxfrm(3), wcscmp(3)

STANDARDS

The strcmp() and strncmp() functions conform to ANSI X3.159-1989 (“ANSI C89”).

HISTORY

The strcmp() function first appeared in the Programmer's Workbench (PWB/UNIX) and was ported to Version 7 AT&T UNIX; strncmp() first appeared in Version 7 AT&T UNIX.