strcmp()

strcmp(str1, str2) compares the values of 2 strings.

• returns 0 if str1 = str2
• return <0 if str1<str2
• returns >0 if str1>str2

How it works

Its a very simply method actually.

// pseudocode
char str1[];
char str2[];
int i = 0;
 
while (while str1 not completely equal to str2){
	if (str1[i] < str2[i])
		return str1[i] - str2[i]; // negative return
	else if (str1[i] > str2[i])
		return str1[i] - str2[i]; // positive return
}
return 0; // if they are equivalent

It keeps iterating and comparing strings until it finds 2 characters do not match, if they do not match, it returns the difference between the characters. If they completely match, then it returns 0.