MySQL STRCMP() Function

The STRCMP() function in MySQL compares two strings and returns a numerical value indicating their relative order.

STRCMP(): Definition and Usage

This function is useful for sorting, filtering, or performing conditional logic based on string comparisons. It provides a more programmatic way to handle string comparisons compared to using operators like = or !=.

Return Values

STRCMP() returns:

• 0 if the strings are equal.
• -1 if the first string is lexicographically less than the second string (comes before it alphabetically).
• 1 if the first string is lexicographically greater than the second string (comes after it alphabetically).

Syntax

STRCMP(string1, string2)
      

Parameter Values

Examples

Comparing Identical Strings

Comparing two identical strings.

SELECT STRCMP("SQL Tutorial", "SQL Tutorial");
      

0
      

Comparing Different Strings

Comparing two different strings.

SELECT STRCMP("SQL Tutorial", "HTML Tutorial");
      

1