std::collate::compare, std::collate::do_compare

C++

Language

Headers

Freestanding and hosted implementations

Named requirements

Language support library

Concepts library (C++20)

Diagnostics library

Utilities library

Strings library

Containers library

Algorithms library

Iterators library

Numerics library

Input/output library

Localizations library

Regular expressions library (C++11)

Atomic operations library (C++11)

Thread support library (C++11)

Filesystem library (C++17)

Technical Specifications

Localizations library

Locales and facets
locale
use_facet	has_facet
Character classification
isspace isblank (C++11) iscntrl isupper islower isalpha	isdigit ispunct isxdigit isalnum isprint isgraph
Conversions
toupper tolower	wstring_convert (C++11) wbuffer_convert (C++11)
Facet category base classes
ctype_base codecvt_base messages_base	time_base money_base
Facet categories
ctype ctype<char> codecvt collate messages time_get time_put	num_get num_put numpunct money_get money_put moneypunct
Locale-specific facets
ctype_byname codecvt_byname messages_byname collate_byname	time_get_byname time_put_byname numpunct_byname moneypunct_byname
Code conversion facets
codecvt_utf8 (C++11) codecvt_utf16 (C++11)	codecvt_utf8_utf16 (C++11) codecvt_mode (C++11)
C locale
setlocale localeconv lconv	LC_ALLLC_COLLATELC_CTYPELC_MONETARYLC_NUMERICLC_TIME

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 <string>
#include <locale>

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"r", L"ngel");
    std::wcout << "In the Swedish locale: ";
    try_compare(std::locale("sv_SE.utf8"), L"r", L"ngel");
}

Output:

In the American locale: chrt before hrnec
In the Czech locale: hrnec before chrt
In the American locale: ngel before r
In the Swedish locale: r before ngel

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)