How to compare two slices of bytes in Golang?

Last Updated : 26 Aug, 2019

In Go language slice is more powerful, flexible, convenient than an array, and is a lightweight data structure. The slice is a variable-length sequence which stores elements of a similar type, you are not allowed to store different type of elements in the same slice. In the Go slice, you are allowed to compare two slices of the byte type with each other using Compare() function. This function returns an integer value which represents that these slices are equal or not and the values are:

If the result is 0, then slice_1 == slice_2.
If the result is -1, then slice_1 < slice_2.
If the result is +1, then slice_1 > slice_2.

This function is defined under the bytes package so, you have to import bytes package in your program for accessing Compare function.

Syntax:

func Compare(slice_1, slice_2 []byte) int

Let us discuss this concept with the help of the examples:

Example 1:

// Go program to illustrate how to
// compare two slices of bytes
package main
  
import (
    "bytes"
    "fmt"
)
  
// Main function
func main() {
  
    // Creating and initializing
    // slices of bytes
    // Using shorthand declaration
  
    slice_1 := []byte{'G', 'E', 'E', 'K', 'S'}
    slice_2 := []byte{'G', 'E', 'e', 'K', 'S'}
  
    // Comparing slice
    // Using Compare function
    res := bytes.Compare(slice_1, slice_2)
  
    if res == 0 {
        fmt.Println("!..Slices are equal..!")
    } else {
        fmt.Println("!..Slice are not equal..!")
    }
}

Output:

!..Slice are not equal..!

Example 2:

// Go program to illustrate how
// to compare two slices of byte
package main
  
import (
    "bytes"
    "fmt"
)
  
func main() {
  
    // Creating and initializing
    // slices of bytes
    // Using shorthand declaration
    slice_1 := []byte{'A', 'N', 'M', 'O', 'P', 'Q'}
    slice_2 := []byte{'a', 'g', 't', 'e', 'q', 'm'}
    slice_3 := []byte{'A', 'N', 'M', 'O', 'P', 'Q'}
    slice_4 := []byte{'A', 'n', 'M', 'o', 'p', 'Q'}
  
    // Displaying slices
    fmt.Println("Slice 1: ", slice_1)
    fmt.Println("Slice 2: ", slice_2)
    fmt.Println("Slice 3: ", slice_3)
    fmt.Println("Slice 4: ", slice_4)
  
    // Comparing slices
    // Using Compare function
    res1 := bytes.Compare(slice_1, slice_2)
    res2 := bytes.Compare(slice_1, slice_3)
    res3 := bytes.Compare(slice_1, slice_4)
    res4 := bytes.Compare(slice_2, slice_3)
    res5 := bytes.Compare(slice_2, slice_4)
    res6 := bytes.Compare(slice_2, slice_1)
    res7 := bytes.Compare(slice_3, slice_1)
    res8 := bytes.Compare(slice_3, slice_2)
    res9 := bytes.Compare(slice_3, slice_4)
    res10 := bytes.Compare(slice_4, slice_1)
    res11 := bytes.Compare(slice_4, slice_2)
    res12 := bytes.Compare(slice_4, slice_3)
    res13 := bytes.Compare(slice_4, slice_4)
  
    // Displaying results
    fmt.Println("\nResult 1:", res1)
    fmt.Println("Result 2:", res2)
    fmt.Println("Result 3:", res3)
    fmt.Println("Result 4:", res4)
    fmt.Println("Result 5:", res5)
    fmt.Println("Result 6:", res6)
    fmt.Println("Result 7:", res7)
    fmt.Println("Result 8:", res8)
    fmt.Println("Result 9:", res9)
    fmt.Println("Result 10:", res10)
    fmt.Println("Result 11:", res11)
    fmt.Println("Result 12:", res12)
    fmt.Println("Result 13:", res13)
}

Output:

Slice 1:  [65 78 77 79 80 81]
Slice 2:  [97 103 116 101 113 109]
Slice 3:  [65 78 77 79 80 81]
Slice 4:  [65 110 77 111 112 81]

Result 1: -1
Result 2: 0
Result 3: -1
Result 4: 1
Result 5: 1
Result 6: 1
Result 7: 0
Result 8: -1
Result 9: -1
Result 10: 1
Result 11: -1
Result 12: 1
Result 13: 0

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