strcmp with numbers

Hi, I need to compare two numbers.

If the numbers are not made out of the same number of digits strcmp() will return 0 meaning that they are equal.

strncmp() will return the correct answer 1, meaning the first number is greater.

Is there a work around with strcmp() that it returns the correct result too?

Code:

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#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

int main()
{
 
    int ret = strcmp("1 222 111", "1 222 11");
    cout << "Result: " << ret << "\n";

    ret = strncmp("1 222 111", "1 222 11", 9);
    cout << "Result: " << ret << "\n";

 
    system("pause");
    return 0;
}

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First off why are you using the C-string functions in the first place? Why not just use C++ strings and then directly compare the strings?

Second I can't reproduce your results because the program fails to compile on my system because you forgot to #include a required include file.

Third after fixing the above issue I get the following output:

Quote:

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Result: 1
Result: 49

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Code:

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#include <iostream>
#include <cstring>
#include <string>

using namespace std;

int main()
{

    int ret = strcmp("1 222 111", "1 222 11");
    cout << "Result: " << ret << "\n";

    ret = strncmp("1 222 111", "1 222 11", 9);
    cout << "Result: " << ret << "\n";

    std::cout << "Are the strings equal: " << std::boolalpha << ("1 222 111" == "1 222 11") << std::endl;
    std::cout << "Are the strings equal: " << std::boolalpha << ("1 222 111" == "1 222 111") << std::endl;


    return 0;
}

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The above produces the following on my system:

Quote:

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Result: 1
Result: 49
Are the strings equal: false
Are the strings equal: true

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Thank you Jim,

Now, I get 1 too on strcmp(). I dont understand why I got 0 before.

What did you change?

Jim has made a rare error here, simply comparing the addresses of the string literals and not their "values":

Code:

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    std::cout << "Are the strings equal: " << std::boolalpha << ("1 222 111" == "1 222 11") << std::endl;
    std::cout << "Are the strings equal: " << std::boolalpha << ("1 222 111" == "1 222 111") << std::endl;

---

As I'm sure he knows, to use C++ std::string comparison operators you need to convert the string literals to std::strings.

Code:

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    std::cout << "Are the strings equal: " << (std::string("1 222 111") == "1 222 11") << '\n';

---

Only one string literal needs to be explicitly converted; the other will be converted implicitly.
Since C++14, you can also say "1 222 111"s to make a std::string literal.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jimblumberg

What did you change?

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Just added the include files you suggested. But it compiles without them also and I get the good result 1.

Anyway I realized that numbers cannot be compared as strings because they will be compared alphabetically like strings are compared.

"600" will be bigger than "1000" because the first character is bigger.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ducky

Anyway I realized that numbers cannot be compared as strings because they will be compared alphabetically like strings are compared.

"600" will be bigger than "1000" because the first character is bigger.

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If you're dealing with non-negative integer string representations without leading 0s, then it is a simple matter of comparing string length first.

By your first example you need to include
#include <string.h>
After this change i've got 1 as return value of strcmp too.

jimblumberg's exampe returns 49 of strncmp. That's the ASCII-Value of the character "1".

Quote:

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Originally Posted by rusyoldguy

jimblumberg's exampe returns 49 of strncmp. That's the ASCII-Value of the character "1".

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That's because the first discrepancy in the two strings is between the last '1' of the first string and the terminating '\0' of the second string, the difference of their ascii codes being 49 since '1' is 49 and '\0' is 0.

That it returns the difference is specific to your system since the standard does not guarantee that. It only guarantees a positive, negative, or zero value, with no other meaning than greater than, less than, and equal, respectively.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by laserlight

If you're dealing with non-negative integer string representations without leading 0s, then it is a simple matter of comparing string length first.

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Thats true, I didnt think about this.