Parameters

string1

The first string to compare.

offset1

The zero-based index of the character in string1 at which to start comparing.

string2

The second string to compare.

offset2

The zero-based index of the character in string2 at which to start comparing.

options

A value that defines how string1 and string2 should be compared. options is either the enumeration value CompareOptions.Ordinal, or a bitwise combination of one or more of the following values: CompareOptions.IgnoreCase, CompareOptions.IgnoreSymbols, CompareOptions.IgnoreNonSpace, CompareOptions.IgnoreWidth, CompareOptions.IgnoreKanaType, and CompareOptions.StringSort.

Returns

A 32-bit signed integer indicating the lexical relationship between the two comparands.

zero	The two strings are equal.
less than zero	The specified section of string1 is less than the specified section of string2.
greater than zero	The specified section of string1 is greater than the specified section of string2.

Remarks

If a security decision depends on a string comparison or a case change, you should use the CultureInfo.InvariantCulture property to ensure that the behavior is consistent regardless of the culture settings of the operating system.

Note:

When possible, you should call string comparison methods that have a parameter of type System.Globalization.CompareOptions to specify the kind of comparison expected. As a general rule, use linguistic options (using the current culture) for comparing strings displayed in the user interface and specify CompareOptions.Ordinal or CompareOptions.OrdinalIgnoreCase for security comparisons.

Requirements