Question

How can I determine which string is before another if ordered alphabetically?

Examples:

is "add" before "ask"? true
is "aaaabba" before "aaac"? true
is "xeon" before "alphabet"? false

Is there something in .NET that can do this? Or does someone know of a good method to do this? Thanks in advance. I am using C#, but another language is fine for examples, or even pseudocode, or an idea, thanks.

Answer 1

You could use the Compare static method or CompareTo instance method:

class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        Console.WriteLine(string.Compare("add", "ask") < 0);
        Console.WriteLine(string.Compare("aaaabba", "aaac") < 0);
        Console.WriteLine(string.Compare("xeon", "alphabet") < 0);
    }
}

Prints:

True
True
False