IComparable Interface
Defines a generalized type-specific comparison method that a value type or class implements to order or sort its instances.
Assembly: mscorlib (in mscorlib.dll)
The IComparable type exposes the following members.
This interface is implemented by types whose values can be ordered or sorted. It requires that implementing types define a single method, CompareTo(Object), that indicates whether the position of the current instance in the sort order is before, after, or the same as a second object of the same type. The instance's IComparable implementation is called automatically by methods such as Array.Sort and ArrayList.Sort.
The implementation of the CompareTo(Object) method must return an Int32 that has one of three values, as shown in the following table.
Value | Meaning |
|---|---|
Less than zero | The current instance precedes the object specified by the CompareTo method in the sort order. |
Zero | This current instance occurs in the same position in the sort order as the object specified by the CompareTo method. |
Greater than zero | This current instance follows the object specified by the CompareTo method in the sort order. |
All numeric types (such as Int32 and Double) implement IComparable, as do String, Char, and DateTime. Custom types should also provide their own implementation of IComparable to enable object instances to be ordered or sorted.
Windows 7, Windows Vista SP1 or later, Windows XP SP3, Windows XP SP2 x64 Edition, Windows Server 2008 (Server Core not supported), Windows Server 2008 R2 (Server Core supported with SP1 or later), Windows Server 2003 SP2
The .NET Framework does not support all versions of every platform. For a list of the supported versions, see .NET Framework System Requirements.
