NAME

       strverscmp - compare two version strings

SYNOPSIS

       #define _GNU_SOURCE         /* See feature_test_macros(7) */
       #include <string.h>

       int strverscmp(const char *s1, const char *s2);

DESCRIPTION

       Often  one  has  files  jan1,  jan2,  ..., jan9, jan10, ...  and it feels wrong when ls(1)
       orders them jan1, jan10, ..., jan2, ..., jan9.  In order to rectify this,  GNU  introduced
       the  -v  option  to  ls(1),  which  is  implemented using versionsort(3), which again uses
       strverscmp().

       Thus, the task of strverscmp() is to compare two strings and find the "right" order, while
       strcmp(3)  finds  only  the  lexicographic  order.   This function does not use the locale
       category LC_COLLATE, so is meant mostly for situations where the strings are  expected  to
       be in ASCII.

       What this function does is the following.  If both strings are equal, return 0.  Otherwise
       find the position between two bytes with the property that  before  it  both  strings  are
       equal,  while directly after it there is a difference.  Find the largest consecutive digit
       strings containing (or starting at, or ending at) this position.  If one or both of  these
       is  empty,  then  return  what  strcmp(3)  would have returned (numerical ordering of byte
       values).  Otherwise, compare both digit strings numerically, where digit strings with  one
       or more leading zeros are interpreted as if they have a decimal point in front (so that in
       particular digit strings with more leading zeros come  before  digit  strings  with  fewer
       leading zeros).  Thus, the ordering is 000, 00, 01, 010, 09, 0, 1, 9, 10.

RETURN VALUE

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

CONFORMING TO

       This function is a GNU extension.

SEE ALSO

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

COLOPHON

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