1STRVERSCMP(3)              Linux Programmer's Manual             STRVERSCMP(3)
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NAME

6       strverscmp - compare two version strings
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SYNOPSIS

9       #define _GNU_SOURCE         /* See feature_test_macros(7) */
10       #include <string.h>
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12       int strverscmp(const char *s1, const char *s2);
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DESCRIPTION

15       Often  one  has  files  jan1, jan2, ..., jan9, jan10, ...  and it feels
16       wrong when ls(1) orders them jan1, jan10, ...,  jan2,  ...,  jan9.   In
17       order  to rectify this, GNU introduced the -v option to ls(1), which is
18       implemented using versionsort(3), which again uses strverscmp().
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20       Thus, the task of strverscmp() is to compare two strings and  find  the
21       "right"  order,  while  strcmp(3)  finds  only the lexicographic order.
22       This function does not use the locale category LC_COLLATE, so is  meant
23       mostly for situations where the strings are expected to be in ASCII.
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25       What  this  function does is the following.  If both strings are equal,
26       return 0.  Otherwise find the position between two bytes with the prop‐
27       erty  that  before  it  both strings are equal, while directly after it
28       there is a difference.  Find the largest consecutive digit strings con‐
29       taining  (or  starting at, or ending at) this position.  If one or both
30       of these is empty, then  return  what  strcmp(3)  would  have  returned
31       (numerical  ordering  of  byte  values).  Otherwise, compare both digit
32       strings numerically, where digit strings with one or more leading zeros
33       are  interpreted  as  if they have a decimal point in front (so that in
34       particular digit strings with more  leading  zeros  come  before  digit
35       strings  with fewer leading zeros).  Thus, the ordering is 000, 00, 01,
36       010, 09, 0, 1, 9, 10.
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RETURN VALUE

39       The strverscmp() function returns an integer less than,  equal  to,  or
40       greater  than  zero  if  s1 is found, respectively, to be earlier than,
41       equal to, or later than s2.
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CONFORMING TO

44       This function is a GNU extension.
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SEE ALSO

47       rename(1), strcasecmp(3), strcmp(3), strcoll(3)
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COLOPHON

50       This page is part of release 3.53 of the Linux  man-pages  project.   A
51       description  of  the project, and information about reporting bugs, can
52       be found at http://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.
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56GNU                               2001-12-19                     STRVERSCMP(3)
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