Character string comparisons

Two strings are compared by comparing the corresponding bytes of each string. If the strings do not have the same length, the comparison is made with a temporary copy of the shorter string that has been padded on the right with blanks so that it has the same length as the other string.

Two strings are equal if they are both empty or if all corresponding bytes are equal. An empty string is equal to a blank string. If two strings are not equal, their relationship (that is, which has the greater value) is determined by the comparison of the first pair of unequal bytes from the left end of the strings.