147

Can anyone verify this for me? JavaScript does not have a version of strcmp(), so you have to write out something like:

 ( str1 < str2 ) ? 
            -1 : 
             ( str1 > str2 ? 1 : 0 );
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1

8 Answers 8

Reset to default
158

What about

str1.localeCompare(str2)
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7 Comments

localeCompare() looked good, but it looked like it was MS-only, or not in the standard at best.
what standard are you looking at? it seems to be in ECMA-262 standard section 15.5.4.9, as well as in the mozilla Javascript reference (developer.mozilla.org/en/Core_JavaScript_1.5_Reference/…)
newacct is absolutely correct. This seems to be ECMAScript standard. Probably the best solution in this case.
localeCompare() sometimes behaves differently on each browser.
@VardaElentári: Only for characters that have no lexical ordering in the given locale. For characters that do and browsers that don't restrict what parts of Unicode they use, results are consistent and defined by ECMA-402 and Unicode.
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45

Javascript doesn't have it, as you point out.

A quick search came up with:

function strcmp ( str1, str2 ) {
    // http://kevin.vanzonneveld.net
    // +   original by: Waldo Malqui Silva
    // +      input by: Steve Hilder
    // +   improved by: Kevin van Zonneveld (http://kevin.vanzonneveld.net)
    // +    revised by: gorthaur
    // *     example 1: strcmp( 'waldo', 'owald' );
    // *     returns 1: 1
    // *     example 2: strcmp( 'owald', 'waldo' );
    // *     returns 2: -1

    return ( ( str1 == str2 ) ? 0 : ( ( str1 > str2 ) ? 1 : -1 ) );
}

from http://kevin.vanzonneveld.net/techblog/article/javascript_equivalent_for_phps_strcmp/

Of course, you could just add localeCompare if needed:

if (typeof(String.prototype.localeCompare) === 'undefined') {
    String.prototype.localeCompare = function(str, locale, options) {
        return ((this == str) ? 0 : ((this > str) ? 1 : -1));
    };
}

And use str1.localeCompare(str2) everywhere, without having to worry wether the local browser has shipped with it. The only problem is that you would have to add support for locales and options if you care about that.

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2 Comments

I think this is a nice way of handling it (feature detection and polyfill FTW), but if micro speed performance is so important, as for the need of this method, then I am a little puzzled that == is used and not === since the latter avoid type conversion and hence is that micro second faster.
a note on the polyfill-- localeCompare is not case-sensitive, so to make the polyfill also not case-sensitive you might do something like- var a = this.toUpperCase(); var b = str.toUpperCase(); return ((a == b) ? 0 : ((a > b) ? 1 : -1));
30

localeCompare() is slow, so if you don't care about the "correct" ordering of non-English-character strings, try your original method or the cleaner-looking:

str1 < str2 ? -1 : +(str1 > str2)

This is an order of magnitude faster than localeCompare() on my machine.

The + ensures that the answer is always numeric rather than boolean.

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8 Comments

Two bugs: does not return 0 for str1 == str2, does not return 1 for str1 > str2
@stackunderflow I'm using it successfully in a sorting function. What is the bug that you are experiencing?
This will return -1, false, or true instead of -1, 0, or 1. To get it to return numbers always, tweak it like this: str1 < str2 ? -1 : +(str1 > str2)
One more thing (I'm using this in code I'm writing right now, so I've been perfecting it): just be aware that this is a case-sensitive comparison ('Foo' will come before 'bar' but 'Bar' will come after 'foo'). That corresponds to OP's question about strcmp, but many people may come here looking for a case-agnostic comparison.
Here's an even cleaner-looking expression: (str1 > str2) - (str1 < str2)
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9 
var strcmp = new Intl.Collator(undefined, {numeric:true, sensitivity:'base'}).compare;

Usage: strcmp(string1, string2)

Result: 1 means string1 is bigger, 0 means equal, -1 means string2 is bigger.

This has higher performance than String.prototype.localeCompare

Also, numeric:true makes it do logical number comparison

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2 Comments

Here are some jsperf results jsperf.com/localecompare-vs-intl-collator jsperf.com/localecompare-vs-intl-collator
@Anonymous This is the opposite of strcmp
1

from this How to Check if Two Strings are Equal in JavaScript article:

  1. Generally, if your strings contain only ASCII characters, you use the === operator to check if they are equal.
  2. But when your strings contain characters that include combining characters(eg. e + ◌́ = é), you normalize them first before comparing for equality as follows- s1.normalize() === s2.normalize()
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0

So I fell into this rabbit hole and wrote some tests to build an intuition, the result's are weird. tldr it looks like localeCompare Performs a to lowercase that the equality operators do not. This causes "ff" to be >= "ZZ" but locale Compare returns -1 becuse "ff" <= 'zz'

For best results view logs of code in browser console ctrl + shift + i

second snip it hides hand tests so you see some random ones.

Home this helps someone

function stringBench(n, bench, min = 10, len = 10, logDif = false) {
  function makeid(length) {
    var result = '';
    var characters = 'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789';
    var charactersLength = characters.length;
    for (var i = 0; i < length; i++) {
      result += characters.charAt(Math.floor(Math.random() *
        charactersLength));
    }
    return result;

  }

  var a = [];
  var b = [];
  var pool = {};
  let rle = [];
  let rlc = [];

  let now;
  for (let i = 0; i < n; i++) {
    pool[i] = (makeid(min + Math.floor(Math.random() *
      len))); //10-20ish

  }
  for (let i = 0; i < bench; i++) {
    a[i] = (Math.floor(Math.random() * n));
    b[i] = (Math.floor(Math.random() * n));
  }

  console.log("now testin le vs lc on a pool of", n, " with this many samples ", bench);
  now = Date.now();
  for (let i = 0; i < bench; i++) {
    rlc[i] = pool[a[i]].localeCompare(pool[b[i]]);
  }
  let lcDelta = Date.now() - now;
  console.log("Performed ", bench, "lc localeCompare in ", lcDelta);


  now = Date.now();
  for (let i = 0; i < bench; i++) {
    rle[i] = pool[a[i]] <= pool[b[i]];
  }
  let leDelta = Date.now() - now;
  console.log("Performed ", bench, "le (<=) compares in ", leDelta)

  for (let i = 0; i < n; i++) {
    pool[i] = (makeid(min + Math.floor(Math.random() *
      len))); //10-20ish

  }
  for (let i = 0; i < bench; i++) {
    a[i] = (Math.floor(Math.random() * n));
    b[i] = (Math.floor(Math.random() * n));
  }


  now = Date.now();
  for (let i = 0; i < bench; i++) {
    rle[i] = pool[a[i]] <= pool[b[i]];
  }
  let leDelta2 = Date.now() - now;
  console.log("Performed ", bench, "le (<=) compares in ", leDelta2)

  now = Date.now();
  for (let i = 0; i < bench; i++) {
    rlc[i] = pool[a[i]].localeCompare(pool[b[i]]);
  }
  let lcDelta2 = Date.now() - now;
  console.log("Performed ", bench, "lc localeCompare in ", lcDelta2);

  function testCmp(a, b, log = true) {
    let le = a <= b;
    let ge = a >= b;
    let lc = a.localeCompare(b);
    let l = a < b;
    let g = a > b;
    if (le && ge) console.assert(lc == 0, 'le && ge -> == -> lc == 0,')
    if (le) console.assert(lc <= 0, 'le-> lc <= 0')
    if (ge) console.assert(lc >= 0, 'ge-> lc >= 0')
    if (l) console.assert(lc < 0, 'l=>lc < 0')
    if (g) console.assert(lc > 0, 'g-> lc > 0')
    if (!log) return;
    console.log(`Compare:  ${a} le ${b} `, a <= b);
    console.log(`Compare:  ${a} ge ${b}`, a >= b);
    console.log(`Compare: ${a} lc ${b}`, a.localeCompare(b));
  }

  let c = 0
  for (let i = 0; i < bench; i++) {
    if (rle[i] != rlc[i] <= 0) {
      c++;
      testCmp(pool[a[i]], pool[b[i]], true);
      console.warn(pool[a[i]], ' le != lc <= 0 ', pool[b[i]]);

    }


    // rlc[i] = pool[a[i]].localeCompare(pool[b[i]]);
  }
  console.warn(' le != lc  out of bench, num diffs: ', c);


  testCmp('ff', 'ff')
  testCmp('ff', 'fa')
  testCmp('ff', 'fz')
  testCmp('ff', 'fff')
  testCmp('ff', 'ffa')
  testCmp('ff', 'ffz')
  testCmp('ff', 'a')
  testCmp('ff', 'z')
  testCmp('ff', 'f')
  testCmp('ff', 'zff')
  testCmp('ff', 'aff')
  testCmp('ff', 'ZZ')
  testCmp('ff', 'AA')
  testCmp('FF', 'ZZ')
  testCmp('FF', 'ff')
  testCmp('FF', 'AA')
  testCmp('ff', 'ZZZ')

  console.log("Dif le - lc = ", leDelta2 - lcDelta2);

  console.log("avg le ms/Mops = ", (leDelta + leDelta2) / (bench / 1000000));
  console.log("avg lc ms/Mops = ", (lcDelta + lcDelta2) / (bench / 1000000));


  console.log("Dif  - lc = ", leDelta2 - lcDelta2);

};
stringBench(1000, 5000, 1, 3, true);
// stringBench(1000000, 1000000);//nothing is equire
// stringBench(1000, 100000000);
// stringBench(1000000, 100000000, 3, 5);
// stringBench(1000000, 100000000, 15, 20);

function stringBench(n, bench, min = 10, len = 10, logDif = false) {
  function makeid(length) {
    var result = '';
    var characters = 'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789';
    var charactersLength = characters.length;
    for (var i = 0; i < length; i++) {
      result += characters.charAt(Math.floor(Math.random() *
        charactersLength));
    }
    return result;


  }

  var a = [];
  var b = [];
  var pool = {};
  let rle = [];
  let rlc = [];

  let now;
  for (let i = 0; i < n; i++) {
    pool[i] = (makeid(min + Math.floor(Math.random() *
      len))); //10-20ish

  }
  for (let i = 0; i < bench; i++) {
    a[i] = (Math.floor(Math.random() * n));
    b[i] = (Math.floor(Math.random() * n));
  }

  console.log("now testin le vs lc on a pool of", n, " with this many samples ", bench);
  now = Date.now();
  for (let i = 0; i < bench; i++) {
    rlc[i] = pool[a[i]].localeCompare(pool[b[i]]);
  }
  let lcDelta = Date.now() - now;
  console.log("Performed ", bench, "lc localeCompare in ", lcDelta);


  now = Date.now();
  for (let i = 0; i < bench; i++) {
    rle[i] = pool[a[i]] <= pool[b[i]];
  }
  let leDelta = Date.now() - now;
  console.log("Performed ", bench, "le (<=) compares in ", leDelta)

  for (let i = 0; i < n; i++) {
    pool[i] = (makeid(min + Math.floor(Math.random() *
      len))); //10-20ish

  }
  for (let i = 0; i < bench; i++) {
    a[i] = (Math.floor(Math.random() * n));
    b[i] = (Math.floor(Math.random() * n));
  }


  now = Date.now();
  for (let i = 0; i < bench; i++) {
    rle[i] = pool[a[i]] <= pool[b[i]];
  }
  let leDelta2 = Date.now() - now;
  console.log("Performed ", bench, "le (<=) compares in ", leDelta2)

  now = Date.now();
  for (let i = 0; i < bench; i++) {
    rlc[i] = pool[a[i]].localeCompare(pool[b[i]]);
  }
  let lcDelta2 = Date.now() - now;
  console.log("Performed ", bench, "lc localeCompare in ", lcDelta2);

  function testCmp(a, b, log = true) {
    let le = a <= b;
    let ge = a >= b;
    let lc = a.localeCompare(b);
    let l = a < b;
    let g = a > b;
    if (le && ge) console.assert(lc == 0, 'le && ge -> == -> lc == 0,')
    if (le) console.assert(lc <= 0, 'le-> lc <= 0')
    if (ge) console.assert(lc >= 0, 'ge-> lc >= 0')
    if (l) console.assert(lc < 0, 'l=>lc < 0')
    if (g) console.assert(lc > 0, 'g-> lc > 0')
    if (!log) return;
    console.log(`Compare:  ${a} le ${b} `, a <= b);
    console.log(`Compare:  ${a} ge ${b}`, a >= b);
    console.log(`Compare: ${a} lc ${b}`, a.localeCompare(b));
  }

  let c = 0
  for (let i = 0; i < bench; i++) {
    if (rle[i] != rlc[i] <= 0) {
      c++;
      testCmp(pool[a[i]], pool[b[i]], true);
      console.warn(pool[a[i]], ' le != lc <= 0 ', pool[b[i]]);

    }


    // rlc[i] = pool[a[i]].localeCompare(pool[b[i]]);
  }
  console.warn(' le != lc  out of bench, num diffs: ', c);



  testCmp('ff', 'fa')
  testCmp('ff', 'fz')
  testCmp('ff', 'ZZ')



  console.log("Dif le - lc = ", leDelta2 - lcDelta2);

  console.log("avg le ms/Mops = ", (leDelta + leDelta2) / (bench / 1000000));
  console.log("avg lc ms/Mops = ", (lcDelta + lcDelta2) / (bench / 1000000));







  console.log("Dif  - lc = ", leDelta2 - lcDelta2);


  // for (let i = 0; i < bench; i++) {
  //     rlc[i] != rle[i]
  //     pool[a[i]].localeCompare(pool[b[i]]);
  // }
  //
  // console.log(makeid(5));
};
stringBench(1000, 5000, 1, 3, true);
// stringBench(1000000, 1000000);//nothing is equire
// stringBench(1000, 100000000);
// stringBench(1000000, 100000000, 3, 5);
// stringBench(1000000, 100000000, 15, 20);

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0

In my tests, this is about 10% faster than using a pair of ternary statements on the same set of randomly selected words.

function strcmp( a, b ) {
    for( let i=0 ; i<Math.min( a.length, b.length ) ; i++ ) {
        const n = a.charCodeAt(i) - b.charCodeAt(i);
        if( n ) return  n && ( ( n>>31 ) || 1 );
    }
    const n = a.length - b.length;
    return  n && ( ( n>>31 ) || 1 );
}
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Comments

-2

How about:

String.prototype.strcmp = function(s) {
    if (this < s) return -1;
    if (this > s) return 1;
    return 0;
}

Then, to compare s1 with 2:

s1.strcmp(s2)
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3 Comments

It would help if you said why they shouldn't do what they did. I could understand if they were altering how an existing function method worked, but in this case they are adding a new one.
Extending prototypes unconditionally like this is generally a big no-no.
That's very nearly what the OP saying he's trying NOT to do.