STRCOLL(3P)

NAME
strcoll - string comparison using collating information

SYNOPSIS

#include <string.h>

int strcoll(const char *s1, const char *s2);

DESCRIPTION

The strcoll() function shall compare the string pointed to by s1 to the string pointed to by s2, both interpreted as appropriate to the LC_COLLATE category of the current locale.

The strcoll() function shall not change the setting of errno if successful.

Since no return value is reserved to indicate an error, an application wishing to check for error situations should set errno to 0, then call strcoll(), then check errno.

RETURN VALUE

Upon successful completion, strcoll() shall return an integer greater than, equal to, or less than 0, according to whether the string pointed to by s1 is greater than, equal to, or less than the string pointed to by s2 when both are interpreted as appropriate to the current locale. On error, strcoll() may set errno, but no return value is reserved to indicate an error.

ERRORS

The strcoll() function may fail if:

EINVAL
    The s1 or s2 arguments contain characters outside the domain of the collating sequence.

The following sections are informative.

EXAMPLES

  Comparing Nodes

The following example uses an application-defined function, node_compare(), to compare two nodes based on an alphabetical ordering of the string field.

    #include <string.h>
    ...
    struct node { /* These are stored in the table. */
        char *string;
        int length;
    };
    ...
    int node_compare(const void *node1, const void *node2)
    {
        return strcoll(((const struct node *)node1)->string,
            ((const struct node *)node2)->string);
    }
    ...

APPLICATION USAGE

The strxfrm() and strcmp() functions should be used for sorting large lists.

RATIONALE

None.

FUTURE DIRECTIONS

None.

SEE ALSO

strcmp() , strxfrm() , the Base Definitions volume of IEEE Std 1003.1-2001, <string.h>

COPYRIGHT
Portions of this text are reprinted and reproduced in electronic form from IEEE Std 1003.1, 2003 Edition, Standard for Information Technology -- Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX), The Open Group Base Specifications Issue 6, Copyright (C) 2001-2003 by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc and The Open Group. In the event of any discrepancy between this version and the original IEEE and The Open Group Standard, the original IEEE and The Open Group Standard is the referee document. The original Standard can be obtained online at http://www.opengroup.org/unix/online.html .