# strcoll

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< c‎ | string‎ | byte

Defined in header `<string.h>` |  |
int strcoll( const char *lhs, const char *rhs ); |  |

Compares two null-terminated byte strings according to the current locale as defined by the LC_COLLATE category.

### Parameters

lhs, rhs | - | pointers to the null-terminated byte strings to compare

### Return value

Negative value if `lhs` is less than (precedes) `rhs`.

​0​ if `lhs` is equal to `rhs`.

Positive value if `lhs` is greater than (follows) `rhs`.

### Notes

Collation order is the dictionary order: the position of the letter in the national alphabet (its equivalence class) has higher priority than its case or variant. Within an equivalence class, lowercase characters collate before their uppercase equivalents and locale-specific order may apply to the characters with diacritics. In some locales, groups of characters compare as single collation units. For example, "ch" in Czech follows "h" and precedes "i", and "dzs" in Hungarian follows "dz" and precedes "g".

### Example

Run this code

    #include <stdio.h>
    #include <string.h>
    #include <locale.h>

    int main(void)
    {
        setlocale(LC_COLLATE, "cs_CZ.iso88592");

        const char* s1 = "hrnec";
        const char* s2 = "chrt";

        printf("In the Czech locale: ");
        if(strcoll(s1, s2) < 0)
             printf("%s before %s\n", s1, s2);
        else
             printf("%s before %s\n", s2, s1);

        printf("In lexicographical comparison: ");
        if(strcmp(s1, s2) < 0)
             printf("%s before %s\n", s1, s2);
        else
             printf("%s before %s\n", s2, s1);
    }

Output:

    In the Czech locale: hrnec before chrt
    In lexicographical comparison: chrt before hrnec

### References

- C11 standard (ISO/IEC 9899:2011):

  - 7.24.4.3 The strcoll function (p: 366)

- C99 standard (ISO/IEC 9899:1999):

  - 7.21.4.3 The strcoll function (p: 329)

- C89/C90 standard (ISO/IEC 9899:1990):

  - 4.11.4.3 The strcoll function

### See also

wcscoll (C95) | compares two wide strings in accordance to the current locale (function)
strxfrm | transform a string so that strcmp would produce the same result as strcoll (function)
wcsxfrm (C95) | transform a wide string so that wcscmp would produce the same result as wcscoll (function)
strcmp | compares two strings (function)

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