In this C program, we will compare two strings using strcmp function and by using a user defined function. We first take two string as input from user using gets function and store it in two character array. Now, we have to compare two strings lexicographically and return the result of comparison.
We can either use strcmp function of string.h header file to compare strings or write our own function to compare strings using pointers.
Comparison between two strings is case sensitive, means "TECHCRASHCOURSE" and "TechCrashCourse" are two different strings.
C program to compare two strings using strcmp function
To use strcmp function, we must include string.h header file in our program. Here is the declaration for strcmp() function.
| Return Value | Description |
|---|---|
| Positive (>0) | firstString is greater than secondString |
| Zero (==0) | firstString is equal to secondString |
| Negative (<0) | firstString is less than secondString |
The strcmp() function compares two strings character by character from left to right. It returns the difference between the ascii value of first mismatched characters otherwise zero is both strings are equal.
In below program, it takes two strings as input from user using gets function and stores it in two character arrays 'firstString' and 'secondString'. Then we pass both strings to strcmp function and based upon it's response we print both strings are equal or not.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
int main()
{
char firstString[100], secondString[100];
printf("Enter first string \n");
gets(firstString);
printf("Enter second string \n");
gets(secondString);
if(strcmp(firstString, secondString) == 0){
printf("%s and %s are Equal\n",
firstString, secondString);
} else {
printf("%s and %s are Not Equal\n",
firstString, secondString);
}
return 0;
}
Output
Enter first string TechCrashCourse Enter second string Tech Crash Course TechCrashCourse and Tech Crash Course are Not Equal
Enter first string Compare String Enter second string Compare String Compare String and Compare String are Equal
C program to compare two strings using pointers
This program uses a user defined function compareString to compare two strings. It takes firstString and secondString character pointers as input parameters and does input validation(neither firstString nor secondString pointer should be NULL). Inside while loop, it compares characters of both strings at same index one by one till it finds a mismatch or null character in both. After comparing it returns the result as described above.
#include <stdio.h>
int compareString(char *firstString, char *secondString);
int main()
{
char firstString[100], secondString[100];
printf("Enter first string \n");
gets(firstString);
printf("Enter second string\n");
gets(secondString);
if(compareString(firstString, secondString) == 0){
printf("%s and %s are Equal\n",
firstString, secondString);
} else {
printf("%s and %s are Not Equal\n",
firstString, secondString);
}
return 0;
}
int compareString(char *firstString, char *secondString){
if(firstString == NULL && secondString == NULL)
return 0;
int counter = 0;
while(firstString[counter] == secondString[counter]){
if(firstString[counter]=='\0' && secondString[counter]=='\0')
return 0;
counter++;
}
return firstString[counter] - secondString[counter];
}
Output
Enter first string Strcmp Enter second string strcmp Strcmp and strcmp are Not Equal
Enter first string Compare String Enter second string Compare String Compare String and Compare String are Equal
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