Very Computer

Hi all,
Simple question, how do I compare two strings in the bourne shell to
tell which one comes alphabetically first?

Logic I'm looking for is

if (string1 < string2)
    string1 comes first
else
    string2 comes first
fi

Is there an easy way to do this?

Quote:> Hi all,
> Simple question, how do I compare two strings in the bourne shell to
> tell which one comes alphabetically first?

> Logic I'm looking for is

> if (string1 < string2)
>     string1 comes first
> else
>     string2 comes first
> fi

> Is there an easy way to do this?

This is a classic SAQ.

Solution is for ksh/bash

#!/bin/ksh
string1='abc'
string2='def'

if [[ $string1 < $string2 ]]
then
   echo $string1 comes first
else
   echo $string2 comes first
fi

Quote:> Simple question, how do I compare two strings in the bourne shell to
> tell which one comes alphabetically first?

> Logic I'm looking for is

> if (string1 < string2)
>     string1 comes first
> else
>     string2 comes first
> fi

> Is there an easy way to do this?

Try

if expr string1 \< string2
then
  # string1 comes first
else
  # string2 comes first
fi

--
Tapani Tarvainen

Quote:> Hi all,
> Simple question, how do I compare two strings in the bourne shell to
> tell which one comes alphabetically first?

There's probably a better way, but here's one possibility.

#!/bin/sh
varlist=`echo "xyz\nabc\n" | sort`
set $varlist
echo $1 comes before $2

Joe

Quote:> Hi all,
> Simple question, how do I compare two strings in the bourne shell to
> tell which one comes alphabetically first?

> Logic I'm looking for is

> if (string1 < string2)
>     string1 comes first
> else
>     string2 comes first
> fi

> Is there an easy way to do this?

While using Scsh  (Scheme Shell (at least a Shell ;-)
(define str1 "abc")
(define str2 "def")
(if (string< str1 str2)
      (display "str1 comes first\n")
      (display "str2. comes first\n"))

life could be easy ;-)

Regards
Friedrich