Share this page

# strnicmp

String Manipulation Functions

Performs a case-insensitive comparison between n characters from string1 and string2 to determine the alphabetic order.

    int strnicmp( constchar *string1, const char *string2, size_t num);

string1 | The first string that is compared.
string2 | The second string that is compared.
num | The number of characters to compare.

## Return Values

Returns a value indicating the lexicographical relation between the strings:

Return value | Description
<0 | string1 is less than string2
0 | string1 is the same as string2
>0 | string1 is greater than string2

## Example

The following example compares two strings, string1 and string2, which are nearly identical - string2 contains the word "one" instead of "the" and the word "dog" in uppercase instead of lowercase.

stricmp returns an unequal comparison because it compares the whole string which includes the word imbalance "one" and "the". strnicmp compares 30 characters only, which falls short of the word imbalance in the strings. strnicmp also ignores the uppercase "DOG". It therefore returns an equal comparison.

Copy code

        int result;
        char tmp[20];
        char string1[] = "The quick brown dog jumps over the lazy fox";
        char string2[] = "The quick brown DOG jumps over one lazy fox";
    // Perform a case sensitive comparison
        result = stricmp( string1, string2 );
        if (result > 0)
            strcpy(tmp, "greater than");
        else if (result < 0)
            strcpy(tmp, "less than");
        else
            strcpy(tmp, "equal to");
        lr_output_message ("stricmp: String 1 is %s string 2", tmp);
    // Compare 30 chars
        result = strnicmp( string1, string2 , 30);
        if (result > 0 )
            strcpy( tmp, "greater than");
        else if (result < 0)
            strcpy(tmp, "less than");
        else
            strcpy(tmp, "equal to");
        lr_output_message ("strnicmp: String 1 is %s string 2", tmp);

    Example: Output:
    Action.c(17): stricmp: String 1 is greater than string 2
    Action.c(28): strnicmp: String 1 is equal to string 2

Tips to improve your search results... VuGen Function Reference Version 26.1-26.3 Function Reference 26.1-26.3 All View Local Help Center View Online Help Center Version: