std::collate<CharT>::compare, std::collate<CharT>::do_compare

 

C++

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Symbols index

External libraries

 

Localization library

Locales and facets
Locales
has_facet use_facet	locale
Facet category base classes
ctype_base codecvt_base messages_base	time_base money_base
ctype facets
ctype ctype<char> ctype_byname	codecvt codecvt_byname
numeric facets
num_get num_put	numpunct numpunct_byname
collate facets
collate	collate_byname
time facets
time_get time_put	time_get_byname time_put_byname
monetary facets
money_get money_put	moneypunct moneypunct_byname
messages facets
messages	messages_byname

Character classification and conversion
Character classification
isspace isblank (C++11) iscntrl	isupper islower isalpha	ispunct isdigit isxdigit	isalnum isprint isgraph

Character conversions

toupper

tolower

String and stream conversions

wstring_convert (C++11/17/26*)

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text_encoding (C++26)

Unicode conversion facets

codecvt_utf8 (C++11/17/26*)

codecvt_utf16 (C++11/17/26*)

codecvt_utf8_utf16 (C++11/17/26*)

codecvt_mode (C++11/17/26*)

C library locales
LC_ALLLC_COLLATELC_CTYPELC_MONETARYLC_NUMERICLC_TIME	setlocale localeconv lconv

 

std::collate

Member functions

collate::collate

collate::~collate

collate::comparecollate::do_compare

collate::transformcollate::do_transform

collate::hashcollate::do_hash

 

Defined in header <locale>
public: int compare( const CharT* low1, const CharT* high1,              const CharT* low2, const CharT* high2 ) const;	(1)
protected: virtual int do_compare( const CharT* low1, const CharT* high1,                         const CharT* low2, const CharT* high2 ) const;	(2)

1) Public member function, calls the protected virtual member function do_compare of the most derived class.

2) Compares the character sequence [low1, high1) to the character sequence [low2, high2), using this locale's collation rules, and returns 1 if the first string follows the second, -1 if the first string precedes the second, zero if the two strings are equivalent.

Parameters

low1	-	pointer to the first character of the first string
high1	-	one past the end pointer for the first string
low2	-	pointer to the first character of the second string
high2	-	one past the end pointer for the second string

Return value

1 if the first string is greater than the second (that is, follows the second in the collation order), -1 if the first string is less than the second (precedes the second in the collation order), zero if the two strings are equivalent.

Notes

When three-way comparison is not required (such as when providing a Compare argument to standard algorithms such as std::sort), std::locale::operator() may be more appropriate.

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 <iostream>
#include <locale>
#include <string>
 
template<typename CharT>
void try_compare(const std::locale& l, const CharT* p1, const CharT* p2)
{
    auto& f = std::use_facet<std::collate<CharT>>(l);
 
    std::basic_string<CharT> s1(p1), s2(p2);
    if (f.compare(&s1[0], &s1[0] + s1.size(),
                  &s2[0], &s2[0] + s2.size()) < 0)
        std::wcout << p1 << " before " << p2 << '\n';
    else
        std::wcout << p2 << " before " << p1 << '\n';
}
 
int main()
{
    std::locale::global(std::locale("en_US.utf8"));
    std::wcout.imbue(std::locale());
 
    std::wcout << "In the American locale: ";
    try_compare(std::locale(), "hrnec", "chrt");
    std::wcout << "In the Czech locale: ";
    try_compare(std::locale("cs_CZ.utf8"), "hrnec", "chrt");
 
    std::wcout << "In the American locale: ";
    try_compare(std::locale(), L"år", L"ängel");
    std::wcout << "In the Swedish locale: ";
    try_compare(std::locale("sv_SE.utf8"), L"år", L"ängel");
}

Output:

In the American locale: chrt before hrnec
In the Czech locale: hrnec before chrt
In the American locale: ängel before år
In the Swedish locale: år before ängel

See also

strcoll	compares two strings in accordance to the current locale (function)
wcscoll	compares two wide strings in accordance to the current locale (function)
operator()	lexicographically compares two strings using this locale's collate facet (public member function of std::locale)