compareTo() FUNCTION

compareTo() Function

The compareTo() Function is used to compare two Strings and returns :

'-ve', if the first string is lower than the second String.

'0', if both Strings are equal.

'+ve', if the first string is greater than the second String.

Greater than and less than in case of Strings seems a little weird. But don't worry, we will explain it.

Example :

fun main() {

    var x = "ab"
    var y = "qr"
        
    var z = x.compareTo(y)
        
    if (z < 0) {
        println("First string is lower than the second String")
    } else if (z == 0){
        println("Both Strings are equal")
    } else if (z > 0){
        println("First string is greater than the second String")
    }
}

Output :

First string is lower than the second String

Now, in the above example, we have taken two Strings,

var x = "ab"

And

var y = "qr"

Now, if you see the first string 'ab', it looks to be a smaller letter than the second String 'qr'(Because the letter 'a' and 'b' occurs much earlier than 'q' and 'r').

Then we use the compare method.

var z = x.compareTo(y)

And since the first string is smaller than the second String. The first condition of 'if' is satisfied.

if (z < 0) {
    println("First string is lower than the second String")

And the below output is printed.

First string is lower than the second String

Similarly in the second example,

Example :

fun main() {

    var x = "zy"
    var y = "ab"
        
    var z = x.compareTo(y)
        
    if (z < 0) {
        println("First string is lower than the second String")
    } else if (z == 0){
        println("Both Strings are equal")
    } else if (z > 0){
        println("First string is greater than the second String")
    }
}

Output :

First string is greater than the second String

Example :

fun main() {

    var x = "ab"
    var y = "ab"
        
    var z = x.compareTo(y)
        
    if (z < 0) {
        println("First string is lower than the second String")
    } else if (z == 0){
        println("Both Strings are equal")
    } else if (z > 0){
        println("First string is greater than the second String")
    }
}

Output :

Both Strings are equal

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