_stricmp, _wcsicmp, _mbsicmp
Perform a lowercase comparison of strings.
int_stricmp(constchar*string1,constchar*string2);
int_wcsicmp(constwchar_t*string1,constwchar_t*string2);
int_mbsicmp(constunsignedchar*string1,constunsignedchar_t*string2);
| Routine | Required Header | Compatibility |
| _stricmp | <string.h> | Win 95, Win NT |
| _wcsicmp | <string.h> or <wchar.h> | Win 95, Win NT |
| _mbsicmp | <mbstring.h> | Win 95, Win NT |
For additional compatibility information, see Compatibility in the Introduction.
Libraries
| LIBC.LIB | Single thread static library, retail version |
| LIBCMT.LIB | Multithread static library, retail version |
| MSVCRT.LIB | Import library for MSVCRT.DLL, retail version |
Return Value
The return value indicates the relation of string1 to string2 as follows.
| Return Value | Description |
| < 0 | string1 less than string2 |
| 0 | string1 identical to string2 |
| > 0 | string1 greater than string2 |
On an error, _mbsicmp returns _NLSCMPERROR, which is defined in STRING.H and MBSTRING.H.
Parameters
string1, string2
Null-terminated strings to compare
Remarks
The _stricmp function lexicographically compares lowercase versions of string1 and string2 and returns a value indicating their relationship. _stricmp differs from _stricoll in that the _stricmp comparison is not affected by locale, whereas the _stricoll comparison is according to the LC_COLLATE category of the current locale. For more information on the LC_COLLATE category, see setlocale.
The _strcmpi function is equivalent to _stricmp and is provided for backward compatibility only.
_wcsicmp and _mbsicmp are wide-character and multibyte-character versions of _stricmp. The arguments and return value of _wcsicmp are wide-character strings; those of _mbsicmp are multibyte-character strings. _mbsicmp recognizes multibyte-character sequences according to the current multibyte code page and returns _NLSCMPERROR on an error. (For more information, see Code Pages.) These three functions behave identically otherwise.
_wcsicmp and wcscmp behave identically except that wcscmp does not convert its arguments to lowercase before comparing them. _mbsicmp and _mbscmp behave identically except that _mbscmp does not convert its arguments to lowercase before comparing them.
Generic-Text Routine Mappings
| TCHAR.H Routine | _UNICODE & _MBCS Not Defined | _MBCS Defined | _UNICODE Defined |
| _tcsicmp | _stricmp | _mbsicmp | _wcsicmp |
Example
/* STRCMP.C */
#include <string.h>
#include <stdio.h>
char string1[] = "The quick brown dog jumps over the lazy fox";
char string2[] = "The QUICK brown dog jumps over the lazy fox";
void main( void )
{
char tmp[20];
int result;
/* Case sensitive */
printf( "Compare strings:\n\t%s\n\t%s\n\n", string1, string2 );
result = strcmp( string1, string2 );
if( result > 0 )
strcpy( tmp, "greater than" );
else if( result < 0 )
strcpy( tmp, "less than" );
else
strcpy( tmp, "equal to" );
printf( "\tstrcmp: String 1 is %s string 2\n", tmp );
/* Case insensitive (could use equivalent _stricmp) */
result = _stricmp( string1, string2 );
if( result > 0 )
strcpy( tmp, "greater than" );
else if( result < 0 )
strcpy( tmp, "less than" );
else
strcpy( tmp, "equal to" );
printf( "\t_stricmp: String 1 is %s string 2\n", tmp );
}
Output
Compare strings:
The quick brown dog jumps over the lazy fox
The QUICK brown dog jumps over the lazy fox
strcmp: String 1 is greater than string 2
_stricmp: String 1 is equal to string 2
See Also memcmp, _memicmp, strcmp, strcoll Functions, strncmp, _strnicmp, strrchr, _strset, strspn