xref: /freebsd/lib/libc/string/memcmp.3 (revision 4543ef516683042d46f3bd3bb8a4f3f746e00499)
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.Dd August 15, 2016
33.Dt MEMCMP 3
34.Os
35.Sh NAME
36.Nm memcmp
37.Nd compare byte string
38.Sh LIBRARY
39.Lb libc
40.Sh SYNOPSIS
41.In string.h
42.Ft int
43.Fn memcmp "const void *b1" "const void *b2" "size_t len"
44.Sh DESCRIPTION
45The
46.Fn memcmp
47function
48compares byte string
49.Fa b1
50against byte string
51.Fa b2 .
52Both strings are assumed to be
53.Fa len
54bytes long.
55.Sh RETURN VALUES
56The
57.Fn memcmp
58function
59returns zero if the two strings are identical,
60otherwise returns the difference between the first two differing bytes
61(treated as
62.Vt "unsigned char"
63values, so that
64.Sq Li \e200
65is greater than
66.Sq Li \&\e0 ,
67for example).
68Zero-length strings are always identical.
69.Sh SEE ALSO
70.Xr bcmp 3 ,
71.Xr strcasecmp 3 ,
72.Xr strcmp 3 ,
73.Xr strcoll 3 ,
74.Xr strxfrm 3 ,
75.Xr timingsafe_memcmp 3 ,
76.Xr wmemcmp 3
77.Sh STANDARDS
78The
79.Fn memcmp
80function
81conforms to
82.St -isoC .
83