Comparer.Compare(Object, Object) Method

Reference

Definition

Namespace:: System.Collections

Assemblies:: mscorlib.dll, System.Collections.NonGeneric.dll

Assembly:: System.Runtime.dll

Assembly:: System.Collections.NonGeneric.dll

Assembly:: System.Runtime.Extensions.dll

Assembly:: mscorlib.dll

Assembly:: netstandard.dll

Source:: Comparer.cs

Source:: Comparer.cs

Source:: Comparer.cs

Important

Some information relates to prerelease product that may be substantially modified before it’s released. Microsoft makes no warranties, express or implied, with respect to the information provided here.

Performs a case-sensitive comparison of two objects of the same type and returns a value indicating whether one is less than, equal to, or greater than the other.

public:
 virtual int Compare(System::Object ^ a, System::Object ^ b);

public int Compare (object a, object b);

public int Compare (object? a, object? b);

abstract member Compare : obj * obj -> int
override this.Compare : obj * obj -> int

Public Function Compare (a As Object, b As Object) As Integer

Parameters

a: Object

The first object to compare.

b: Object

The second object to compare.

Returns

Int32

A signed integer that indicates the relative values of a and b, as shown in the following table.

Value	Meaning
Less than zero	`a` is less than `b`.
Zero	`a` equals `b`.
Greater than zero	`a` is greater than `b`.

Implements

Compare(Object, Object)

Exceptions

ArgumentException

Neither a nor b implements the IComparable interface.

-or-

a and b are of different types and neither one can handle comparisons with the other.

Examples

The following code example shows how Compare returns different values depending on the culture associated with the Comparer.

using namespace System;
using namespace System::Collections;
using namespace System::Globalization;
int main()
{
   
   // Creates the strings to compare.
   String^ str1 = "llegar";
   String^ str2 = "lugar";
   Console::WriteLine( "Comparing \"{0}\" and \"{1}\" ...", str1, str2 );
   
   // Uses the DefaultInvariant Comparer.
   Console::WriteLine( "   Invariant Comparer: {0}", Comparer::DefaultInvariant->Compare( str1, str2 ) );
   
   // Uses the Comparer based on the culture "es-ES" (Spanish - Spain, international sort).
   Comparer^ myCompIntl = gcnew Comparer( gcnew CultureInfo(  "es-ES",false ) );
   Console::WriteLine( "   International Sort: {0}", myCompIntl->Compare( str1, str2 ) );
   
   // Uses the Comparer based on the culture identifier 0x040A (Spanish - Spain, traditional sort).
   Comparer^ myCompTrad = gcnew Comparer( gcnew CultureInfo( 0x040A,false ) );
   Console::WriteLine( "   Traditional Sort  : {0}", myCompTrad->Compare( str1, str2 ) );
}

/*
This code produces the following output.

Comparing "llegar" and "lugar" ...
   Invariant Comparer: -1
   International Sort: -1
   Traditional Sort  : 1

*/

using System;
using System.Collections;
using System.Globalization;

public class SamplesComparer  {

   public static void Main()  {

      // Creates the strings to compare.
      String str1 = "llegar";
      String str2 = "lugar";
      Console.WriteLine( "Comparing \"{0}\" and \"{1}\" ...", str1, str2 );

      // Uses the DefaultInvariant Comparer.
      Console.WriteLine( "   Invariant Comparer: {0}", Comparer.DefaultInvariant.Compare( str1, str2 ) );

      // Uses the Comparer based on the culture "es-ES" (Spanish - Spain, international sort).
      Comparer myCompIntl = new Comparer( new CultureInfo( "es-ES", false ) );
      Console.WriteLine( "   International Sort: {0}", myCompIntl.Compare( str1, str2 ) );

      // Uses the Comparer based on the culture identifier 0x040A (Spanish - Spain, traditional sort).
      Comparer myCompTrad = new Comparer( new CultureInfo( 0x040A, false ) );
      Console.WriteLine( "   Traditional Sort  : {0}", myCompTrad.Compare( str1, str2 ) );
   }
}

/*
This code produces the following output.

Comparing "llegar" and "lugar" ...
   Invariant Comparer: -1
   International Sort: -1
   Traditional Sort  : 1

*/

Imports System.Collections
Imports System.Globalization

Public Class SamplesComparer

   Public Shared Sub Main()

      ' Creates the strings to compare.
      Dim str1 As [String] = "llegar"
      Dim str2 As [String] = "lugar"
      Console.WriteLine("Comparing ""{0}"" and ""{1}"" ...", str1, str2)

      ' Uses the DefaultInvariant Comparer.
      Console.WriteLine("   Invariant Comparer: {0}", Comparer.DefaultInvariant.Compare(str1, str2))

      ' Uses the Comparer based on the culture "es-ES" (Spanish - Spain, international sort).
      Dim myCompIntl As New Comparer(New CultureInfo("es-ES", False))
      Console.WriteLine("   International Sort: {0}", myCompIntl.Compare(str1, str2))

      ' Uses the Comparer based on the culture identifier 0x040A (Spanish - Spain, traditional sort).
      Dim myCompTrad As New Comparer(New CultureInfo(&H40A, False))
      Console.WriteLine("   Traditional Sort  : {0}", myCompTrad.Compare(str1, str2))

   End Sub

End Class


'This code produces the following output.
'
'Comparing "llegar" and "lugar" ...
'   Invariant Comparer: -1
'   International Sort: -1
'   Traditional Sort  : 1

Remarks

If a implements IComparable, then a. CompareTo (b) is returned; otherwise, if b implements IComparable, then the negated result of b. CompareTo (a) is returned.

Comparing null with any type is allowed and does not generate an exception when using IComparable. When sorting, null is considered to be less than any other object.

String comparisons might have different results depending on the culture. For more information on culture-specific comparisons, see the System.Globalization namespace and Globalization and Localization.

Applies to

Share via