# std::lexicographical_compare

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< cpp‎ | algorithm

Defined in header `<algorithm>` |  |
template< class InputIt1, class InputIt2 > bool lexicographical_compare( InputIt1 first1, InputIt1 last1, InputIt2 first2, InputIt2 last2 ); | (1) |
template< class ExecutionPolicy, class ForwardIt1, class ForwardIt2 > bool lexicographical_compare( ExecutionPolicy&& policy, ForwardIt1 first1, ForwardIt1 last1, ForwardIt2 first2, ForwardIt2 last2 ); | (2) | (since C++17)
template< class InputIt1, class InputIt2, class Compare > bool lexicographical_compare( InputIt1 first1, InputIt1 last1, InputIt2 first2, InputIt2 last2, Compare comp ); | (3) |
template< class ExecutionPolicy, class ForwardIt1, class ForwardIt2, class Compare > bool lexicographical_compare( ExecutionPolicy&& policy, ForwardIt1 first1, ForwardIt1 last1, ForwardIt2 first2, ForwardIt2 last2, Compare comp ); | (4) | (since C++17)

Checks if the first range [first1, last1) is lexicographically less than the second range [first2, last2).

1) Elements are compared using `operator<`.
3) Elements are compared using the given binary comparison function `comp`.
2,4) Same as (1,3), but executed according to `policy`. This overload only participates in overload resolution if std::is_execution_policy_v<std::decay_t<ExecutionPolicy>> is true

Lexicographical comparison is a operation with the following properties:

- Two ranges are compared element by element.
- The first mismatching element defines which range is lexicographically less or greater than the other.
- If one range is a prefix of another, the shorter range is lexicographically less than the other.
- If two ranges have equivalent elements and are of the same length, then the ranges are lexicographically equal.
- An empty range is lexicographically less than any non-empty range.
- Two empty ranges are lexicographically equal.

### Parameters

first1, last1 | - | the first range of elements to examine
first2, last2 | - | the second range of elements to examine
policy | - | the execution policy to use. See execution policy for details.

comp

-

comparison function object (i.e. an object that satisfies the requirements of `Compare`) which returns ​true if the first argument is less than the second.

The signature of the comparison function should be equivalent to the following:

bool cmp(const Type1 &a, const Type2 &b);

The signature does not need to have const &, but the function object must not modify the objects passed to it.
The types Type1 and Type2 must be such that objects of types InputIt1 and InputIt2 can be dereferenced and then implicitly converted to both Type1 and Type2. ​

Type requirements
- `InputIt1, InputIt2` must meet the requirements of `InputIterator`.
- `ForwardIt1, ForwardIt2` must meet the requirements of `ForwardIterator`.

### Return value

true if the first range is lexicographically less than the second.

### Complexity

At most 2·min(N1, N2) applications of the comparison operation, where N1 = std::distance(first1, last1) and N2 = std::distance(first2, last2).

### Exceptions

The overloads with a template parameter named `ExecutionPolicy` report errors as follows:

- If execution of a function invoked as part of the algorithm throws an exception and `ExecutionPolicy` is one of the three standard policies, std::terminate is called. For any other `ExecutionPolicy`, the behavior is implementation-defined.
- If the algorithm fails to allocate memory, std::bad_alloc is thrown.

### Possible implementation

First version

    template<class InputIt1, class InputIt2>
    bool lexicographical_compare(InputIt1 first1, InputIt1 last1,
                                 InputIt2 first2, InputIt2 last2)
    {
        for ( ; (first1 != last1) && (first2 != last2); first1++, (void) first2++ ) {
            if (*first1 < *first2) return true;
            if (*first2 < *first1) return false;
        }
        return (first1 == last1) && (first2 != last2);
    }

Second version

    template<class InputIt1, class InputIt2, class Compare>
    bool lexicographical_compare(InputIt1 first1, InputIt1 last1,
                                 InputIt2 first2, InputIt2 last2,
                                 Compare comp)
    {
        for ( ; (first1 != last1) && (first2 != last2); first1++, (void) first2++ ) {
            if (comp(*first1, *first2)) return true;
            if (comp(*first2, *first1)) return false;
        }
        return (first1 == last1) && (first2 != last2);
    }

### Example

Run this code

    #include <algorithm>
    #include <iostream>
    #include <vector>
    #include <cstdlib>
    #include <ctime>

    int main()
    {
        std::vector<char> v1 {'a', 'b', 'c', 'd'};
        std::vector<char> v2 {'a', 'b', 'c', 'd'};

        std::srand(std::time(0));
        while (!std::lexicographical_compare(v1.begin(), v1.end(),
                                             v2.begin(), v2.end())) {
            for (auto c : v1) std::cout << c << ' ';
            std::cout << ">= ";
            for (auto c : v2) std::cout << c << ' ';
            std::cout << '\n';

            std::random_shuffle(v1.begin(), v1.end());
            std::random_shuffle(v2.begin(), v2.end());
        }

        for (auto c : v1) std::cout << c << ' ';
        std::cout << "< ";
        for (auto c : v2) std::cout << c << ' ';
        std::cout << '\n';
    }

Possible output:

    a b c d >= a b c d
    d a b c >= c b d a
    b d a c >= a d c b
    a c d b < c d a b

### See also

equal | determines if two sets of elements are the same (function template)

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