How can we compare two strings?

Question

In Python, you can do this:

"ab" > "ac"

which returns False.

In Mathematica, it doesn't evaluate.

But why? These are literal strings, not symbols.

Just from the question description, I can not figure out what is comparing two strings. — Αλέξανδρος Ζεγγ, Commented Mar 21, 2020 at 8:57
But 1>2 works, there's also no indication of what is comparing two numbers. — liang, Commented Mar 21, 2020 at 9:09
With due respect, comparison of two numbers is common sense taught as early as in primary mathematics, but that of strings is not. — Αλέξανδρος Ζεγγ, Commented Mar 21, 2020 at 13:44
Number and string are both "atoms" in the language, so why are they treated differently in this case? Just because one is taught in primary school, and the other is not? Just wondering if there's a deeper reason for that. It seems odd a programming language would depend its design on school curriculum, rather than its own construct. — liang, Commented Mar 22, 2020 at 3:26
If strings should be comparable in the way of numbers, just because both of them are "atoms", so should symbols. Maybe this question should be forwarded to Wolfram himself :). — Αλέξανδρος Ζεγγ, Commented Mar 22, 2020 at 3:36

Szabolcs · Accepted Answer · 2020-03-21 08:27:58Z

13

AlphabeticOrder can compare strings alphabetically (or by other conventions used in dictionaries by various languages).

answered Mar 21, 2020 at 8:27

Szabolcs

236k31 gold badges641 silver badges1.3k bronze badges

$\begingroup$ While alphabetical ordering is works great for this simple example, things start to get weird once you cross into alpha-numeric strings. For that, you need lexicographic ordering. $\endgroup$
– AxGryndr
Commented Mar 22, 2020 at 1:40

Add a comment |

1 Answer 1