Question

I was wondering if it is possible to compare strings as if they were numbers. For instance is there any way you could make it so that "Cat" > "Dog"

Answer 1

Since the only way to do this is to keep a set value for each word, you’d be using arrays, or some other form of data storage.

Here is an example where you just keep the words, and their corresponding values in two arrays (note, they must be in the same order, so the first word corresponds with the first number, etc).

public static String[] words = {"cat","dog","banana"};
public static int[] value = {3,4,5};
public static void main(String[] args){
    if(valOf("Cat") > valOf("Dog")){
        System.out.print("Cat is greater than Dog");
    }
    else{
        System.out.print("Cat is not greater than Dog");
    }
}
public static int valOf(String str){
    for(int x=0;x<words.length;x++){
        if(str.equalsIgnoreCase(words[x])){
            return value[x];
        }
    }
    return -1;
}