GoFiler Legato Script Reference   Legato v 1.6j Application v 6.5c

Table of Contents	< < Previous	Next >>

 

Chapter Five — General Functions (continued)

CompareStrings Function

Overview

The CompareStrings function compares the value of the characters between two strings and returns a result as less than, equal to, or greater than. Options allow the only the beginning or end of the string to matched.

Syntax/Parameters

Syntax

int = CompareStrings ( string a, string b, [dword options] );

Parameters

a

A string to compare.

b

A string to compare.

options

An optional dword containing option bits. If omitted, a simple case sensitive compare is performed.

Return Value

Returns an int value as:

-1

if a < b

0

if a == b

1

if a > b

Remarks

The CompareStrings function combines the basic comparison operators (==, <, and >) to allow string comparison in a single operation. In addition, the options parameter allows the following modes and options:

CS_COMPARE        Simple compare, default
CS_BEGINS_WITH    Begins with parameter a (as a string prefix)
CS_ENDS_WITH      Ends with a (as string suffix)

CS_LOOSE          An option to allow the short of a or b is as the prefix or suffix
CS_NO_CASE        An option to compare strings without regard to case

By default (no options, 0x000000000 or CS_COMPARE), the function compares a and b on a character-by-character basis. If all characters matchup between the strings up to the matching terminating /0 character, the return result is 0. If any character mismatches, the comparison is stopped and -1 or 1 is returned depending on whether the character in a is less than the character at the same position in b.

The CS_NO_CASE option forces the function to ignore upper/lower case differences (same as the CompareStringsNoCase function in simple mode).

In begins with or ends with mode, only a portion of the string is checked. With the CS_BEGINS_WITH mode set, the length of the a parameter sets the size of the compare region. If CS_LOOSE is added in, the shorter of a or b becomes the prefix. Alternatively, with the CS_ENDS_WITH mode set, the length of the a parameter sets the size of the compare region. If CS_LOOSE is added in, the shorter of a or b becomes the suffix.

When in case sensitive mode, except for the terminating zero (as is the case with string types), the CompareString function essentially performs a binary, character-for-character comparison.

 Related Functions

CompareStringsNoCase — Compares string a to string b without regard to text case and returns 0 if equal, -1 if a < b and 1 if a > b.

FindInString — Finds a string within a string with optional position and case sensitivity.

IsRegexMatch — Performs a regular expression pattern match on string data.

InString — Tests for a string as part of a target string with or without case sensitivity.

IsInString — Checks for a string or character matching inside a target string.

ScanString — Scans a string as a list delimited by spaces, commas, or line endings.

Platform Support

Go13, Go16, GoFiler Complete, GoFiler Corporate, GoFiler, GoFiler Lite, GoXBRL

Legato IDE, Legato Basic

Page revised 2026-07-20

 

Table of Contents	< < Previous	Next >>

GoFiler Legato Script Reference — Generated on 07/20/2026

© 2012-2026 Novaworks, LLC. All rights reserved worldwide. Unauthorized use, duplication or transmission is prohibited by law. Portions of the software are protected by US Patents 10,095,672, 10,706,221 and 11,210,456. Novaworks, GoFiler™ and Legato™ are registered trademarks of Novaworks, LLC. EDGAR® is a federally registered trademark of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Novaworks is not affiliated with or approved by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Use of the features specified in this language are subject to terms, conditions and limitations of the Software License Agreement.