{"id":8074,"date":"2024-03-14T07:30:52","date_gmt":"2024-03-14T07:30:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.silicloud.com\/blog\/how-to-compare-the-sizes-of-strings-using-the-strcmp-function-in-c-language\/"},"modified":"2025-08-03T00:18:29","modified_gmt":"2025-08-03T00:18:29","slug":"how-to-compare-the-sizes-of-strings-using-the-strcmp-function-in-c-language","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.silicloud.com\/blog\/how-to-compare-the-sizes-of-strings-using-the-strcmp-function-in-c-language\/","title":{"rendered":"C strcmp() Function: Compare Strings"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In C language, the strcmp() function can be used to compare the sizes of two strings. This function compares the characters in the strings based on their ASCII values, stopping when it finds a difference or one string ends.<\/p>\n<p>The syntax of the strcmp() function is as follows:<\/p>\n<pre class=\"post-pre\"><code><span class=\"hljs-type\">int<\/span> <span class=\"hljs-title function_\">strcmp<\/span><span class=\"hljs-params\">(<span class=\"hljs-type\">const<\/span> <span class=\"hljs-type\">char<\/span> *str1, <span class=\"hljs-type\">const<\/span> <span class=\"hljs-type\">char<\/span> *str2)<\/span>;\r\n<\/code><\/pre>\n<p>Among them, str1 and str2 are the two strings to be compared. If str1 is less than str2, return a negative number; if str1 is equal to str2, return 0; if str1 is greater than str2, return a positive number.<\/p>\n<p>For example:<\/p>\n<pre class=\"post-pre\"><code><span class=\"hljs-meta\">#<span class=\"hljs-keyword\">include<\/span> <span class=\"hljs-string\">&lt;stdio.h&gt;<\/span><\/span>\r\n<span class=\"hljs-meta\">#<span class=\"hljs-keyword\">include<\/span> <span class=\"hljs-string\">&lt;string.h&gt;<\/span><\/span>\r\n\r\n<span class=\"hljs-type\">int<\/span> <span class=\"hljs-title function_\">main<\/span><span class=\"hljs-params\">()<\/span> {\r\n    <span class=\"hljs-type\">char<\/span> str1[] = <span class=\"hljs-string\">\"apple\"<\/span>;\r\n    <span class=\"hljs-type\">char<\/span> str2[] = <span class=\"hljs-string\">\"banana\"<\/span>;\r\n    \r\n    <span class=\"hljs-type\">int<\/span> result = <span class=\"hljs-built_in\">strcmp<\/span>(str1, str2);\r\n    \r\n    <span class=\"hljs-keyword\">if<\/span> (result &lt; <span class=\"hljs-number\">0<\/span>) {\r\n        <span class=\"hljs-built_in\">printf<\/span>(<span class=\"hljs-string\">\"str1 is less than str2\"<\/span>);\r\n    } <span class=\"hljs-keyword\">else<\/span> <span class=\"hljs-keyword\">if<\/span> (result == <span class=\"hljs-number\">0<\/span>) {\r\n        <span class=\"hljs-built_in\">printf<\/span>(<span class=\"hljs-string\">\"str1 is equal to str2\"<\/span>);\r\n    } <span class=\"hljs-keyword\">else<\/span> {\r\n        <span class=\"hljs-built_in\">printf<\/span>(<span class=\"hljs-string\">\"str1 is greater than str2\"<\/span>);\r\n    }\r\n    \r\n    <span class=\"hljs-keyword\">return<\/span> <span class=\"hljs-number\">0<\/span>;\r\n}\r\n<\/code><\/pre>\n<p>In the example above, where str1 is &#8220;apple&#8221; and str2 is &#8220;banana&#8221;, after comparing them using the strcmp() function, the result shows that str1 is less than str2. Therefore, the output is &#8220;str1 is less than str2&#8221;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In C language, the strcmp() function can be used to compare the sizes of two strings. This function compares the characters in the strings based on their ASCII values, stopping when it finds a difference or one string ends. The syntax of the strcmp() function is as follows: int strcmp(const char *str1, const char *str2); [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_import_markdown_pro_load_document_selector":0,"_import_markdown_pro_submit_text_textarea":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[381,450,10603,4731,1115],"class_list":["post-8074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-c-programming","tag-c-tutorial","tag-strcmp-function","tag-string-comparison","tag-string-functions"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v21.5 (Yoast SEO v21.5) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>C strcmp() Function: Compare Strings - Blog - Silicon Cloud<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Learn how to use strcmp() function in C to compare strings. 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