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

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

Syntax:

public abstract int compare(String source,
                            String target)

Parameter: This method takes two strings between which comparison is going to take place.
Return Value: If the first string is equals, greater, or lesser than the other string then it will return zero, positive and negative values respectively.

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
            String obj1 = "ab";

            // Creating an initializing Object for comparison
            String obj2 = "Ab";

            // compare both object
            // using compare() method
            int i = col.compare(obj1, 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
            String obj1 = "ab";

            // Creating an initializing Object for comparison
            String obj2 = "cd";

            // compare both object
            // using compare() method
            int i = col.compare(obj1, obj2);

            // display result
            if (i < 0)
                System.out.println("ab is less than cd");
            else if (i > 0)
                System.out.println("ab is greater than cd");
            else
                System.out.println("ab is equal to cd");
        }

        catch (ClassCastException e) {

            System.out.println("Exception thrown : " + e);
        }
    }
}

Output:

ab is less than cd

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