strcmp() return values in C

c strcmp
dmubu picture dmubu · Oct 5, 2011 · Viewed 71.5k times · Source

I am learning about strcmp() in C. I understand that when two strings are equal, strcmp returns 0.

However, when the man pages state that strcmp returns less than 0 when the first string is less than the second string, is it referring to length, ASCII values, or something else?

Answer

Mysticial picture Mysticial · Oct 5, 2011

In this sense, "less than" for strings means lexicographic (alphabetical) order.

So cat is less than dog because cat is alphabetically before dog.

Lexicographic order is, in some sense, an extension of alphabetical order to all ASCII (and UNICODE) characters.

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