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StringComparer::Compare Method (String, String)

When overridden in a derived class, compares two strings and returns an indication of their relative sort order.

Namespace:  System
Assembly:  mscorlib (in mscorlib.dll)

public:
virtual int Compare(
	String^ x, 
	String^ y
) abstract

Parameters

x
Type: System::String
A string to compare to y.
y
Type: System::String
A string to compare to x.

Return Value

Type: System::Int32
A signed integer that indicates the relative values of x and y, as shown in the following table.

Value

Meaning

Less than zero

x is less than y.

-or-

x is nullptr.

Zero

x is equal to y.

Greater than zero

x is greater than y.

-or-

y is nullptr.

Implements

IComparer<T>::Compare(T, T)

The StringComparer::Compare(String, String) method is more efficient than the StringComparer::Compare(Object, Object) method because the x and y parameters do not have to be unboxed to perform the comparison.

.NET Framework

Supported in: 4, 3.5, 3.0, 2.0

.NET Framework Client Profile

Supported in: 4, 3.5 SP1

Portable Class Library

Supported in: Portable Class Library

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.
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