xref: /freebsd/lib/libc/string/memcmp.3 (revision 0b57cec536236d46e3dba9bd041533462f33dbb7)
1.\" Copyright (c) 1990, 1991, 1993
2.\"	The Regents of the University of California.  All rights reserved.
3.\"
4.\" This code is derived from software contributed to Berkeley by
5.\" Chris Torek and the American National Standards Committee X3,
6.\" on Information Processing Systems.
7.\"
8.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
9.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
10.\" are met:
11.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
12.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
13.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
14.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
15.\"    documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
16.\" 3. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors
17.\"    may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
18.\"    without specific prior written permission.
19.\"
20.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
21.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
22.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
23.\" ARE DISCLAIMED.  IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
24.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
25.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
26.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
27.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
28.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
29.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
30.\" SUCH DAMAGE.
31.\"
32.\"     @(#)memcmp.3	8.1 (Berkeley) 6/4/93
33.\" $FreeBSD$
34.\"
35.Dd August 15, 2016
36.Dt MEMCMP 3
37.Os
38.Sh NAME
39.Nm memcmp
40.Nd compare byte string
41.Sh LIBRARY
42.Lb libc
43.Sh SYNOPSIS
44.In string.h
45.Ft int
46.Fn memcmp "const void *b1" "const void *b2" "size_t len"
47.Sh DESCRIPTION
48The
49.Fn memcmp
50function
51compares byte string
52.Fa b1
53against byte string
54.Fa b2 .
55Both strings are assumed to be
56.Fa len
57bytes long.
58.Sh RETURN VALUES
59The
60.Fn memcmp
61function
62returns zero if the two strings are identical,
63otherwise returns the difference between the first two differing bytes
64(treated as
65.Vt "unsigned char"
66values, so that
67.Sq Li \e200
68is greater than
69.Sq Li \&\e0 ,
70for example).
71Zero-length strings are always identical.
72.Sh SEE ALSO
73.Xr bcmp 3 ,
74.Xr strcasecmp 3 ,
75.Xr strcmp 3 ,
76.Xr strcoll 3 ,
77.Xr strxfrm 3 ,
78.Xr timingsafe_memcmp 3 ,
79.Xr wmemcmp 3
80.Sh STANDARDS
81The
82.Fn memcmp
83function
84conforms to
85.St -isoC .
86