compareTo() - String Methods in Java
This article is a part of String Methods in Java.
This method compares two strings lexicographically. The comparison is based on the
Unicode value of each character present in the string. The parameter passed in this method
is of String type.
Return type
The return type of compareTo() method is int. It returns 0 if the two
strings are
equal. A negative value is returned if the string is less than the other string, and a value
greater than 0 is returned if the string is greater than the other string.
Let us look at an example code to understand this method.
Example
Output
Let us look at the output of the above example code.
In the first scenario, the string “LearningJournal” is greater than the string
“Learningjournal,” it returns -32. In the second case, the strings are equal, so
the value
returned is 0.
Let us look at another case in relation to compareTo() method.
compareToIgnoreCase()
This method compares two strings lexicographically, ignoring lower and upper case differences. The parameter passed in this method is of String type.
Return type
The return type of compareToIgnoreCase() method is int. It returns 0 if the two
strings are
equal, ignoring the upper and lower case differences. A negative value is returned if the
string is less than the other string, and a value greater than 0 is returned if the string
is greater than the other string.
Let us look at an example code to understand this method.
Example
Output
Let us look at the output of the above example code.
Since case is not a concern in this method all the three strings are equal.