Collator compare(Object, Object) method in Java with Example

Last Updated : 22 Sep, 2021

The compare() method of java.text.Collator class is used to compare the strength of two objects and it will return 0, positive and negative value as an output according to the result .

Syntax:

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public int compare(Object o1, Object o2)

Parameter: This method takes two objects between which comparison is going to take place.
Return Value: if the first object is equals, greater or lesser than the other object than it will return zero, positive and negative value respectively.
Exception: This method throws ClassCastException if the arguments cannot be cast to Strings.
Below are the examples to illustrate the compare() method:
Example 1:

Java

// Java program to demonstrate
// compare() method
 
import java.text.*;
import java.util.*;
import java.io.*;
 
public class GFG {
    public static void main(String[] argv)
    {
        try {
 
            // Creating and initializing Collator Object
            Collator col = Collator.getInstance();
 
            // Creating an initializing
            // object for comparison
            Object obj1 = "ab";
 
            // Creating an initializing
            // Object for comparison
            Object obj2 = "Ab";
 
            // compare both object
            // using compare() method
            int i
                = col.compare((String)obj1, (String)obj2);
 
            // display result
            if (i < 0)
                System.out.println("ab is less than Ab");
            else if (i > 0)
                System.out.println("ab is greater than Ab");
            else
                System.out.println("ab is equal to Ab");
        }
 
        catch (ClassCastException e) {
 
            System.out.println("Exception thrown : " + e);
        }
    }
}

Output:

ab is less than Ab

Example 2:

Java

// Java program to demonstrate
// compare() method
 
import java.text.*;
import java.util.*;
import java.io.*;
 
public class GFG {
    public static void main(String[] argv)
    {
        try {
 
            // Creating and initializing Collator Object
            Collator col = Collator.getInstance();
 
            // Creating an initializing object for comparison
            Object obj1 = "ab";
 
            // Creating an initializing Object for comparison
            Object obj2 = 1234;
 
            // compare both object
            // using compare() method
            int i = col.compare((String)obj1, (String)obj2);
 
            // display result
            if (i < 0)
                System.out.println("ab is less than Ab");
            else if (i > 0)
                System.out.println("ab is greater than Ab");
            else
                System.out.println("ab is equal to Ab");
        }
 
        catch (ClassCastException e) {
 
            System.out.println("Exception thrown : " + e);
        }
    }
}

Output:

Exception thrown :
 java.lang.ClassCastException:
 java.lang.Integer cannot be cast to java.lang.String

Reference: https://docs.oracle.com/javase/9/docs/api/java/text/Collator.html#compare-java.lang.Object-java.lang.Object-

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