wcscmp() — Compare Wide-Character Strings

Format

#include <wchar.h>
int wcscmp(const wchar_t *string1, const wchar_t *string2);

Language Level

ANSI

Threadsafe

Yes

Wide Character Function

See Wide Characters for more information.

Description

The wcscmp() function compares two wide-character strings. The wcscmp() function operates on null-ended wchar_t strings; string arguments to this function should contain a wchar_t null character marking the end of the string. Boundary checking is not performed when a string is added to or copied.

Return Value

The wcscmp() function returns a value indicating the relationship between the two strings, as follows:

Table 1. Return values of `wcscmp()`
Value	Meaning
Less than 0	string1 less than string2
0	string1 identical to string2
Greater than 0	string1 greater than string2

Example

This example compares the wide-character string string1 to string2 using wcscmp().

#include <stdio.h>
#include <wchar.h>
 
int main(void)
{
  int  result;
  wchar_t string1[] = L"abcdef";
  wchar_t string2[] = L"abcdefg";
 
  result = wcscmp( string1, string2 );
 
  if ( result == 0 )
    printf( "\"%ls\" is identical to \"%ls\"\n", string1, string2);
  else if ( result < 0 )
    printf( "\"%ls\" is less than \"%ls\"\n", string1, string2 );
  else
    printf( "\"%ls\" is greater than \"%ls\"\n", string1, string2);
}
 
/****************  Output should be similar to:  ******************
 
"abcdef" is less than "abcdefg"
*/