str_diff(3)

💖 str_diff(3) — or, the glow-up where two strings get compared 💖

okay bestie, so this one lives in the Library Functions Manual and it's genuinely one of the most useful little guys in libowfat. it's called str_diff, and yes, it's giving main character energy for string comparison. 🦋

✨ NAME ✨

str_diff — compare two ASCIIZ strings. that's it, that's the whole job, and she does it flawlessly. 💅

🌸 SYNTAX 🌸

lowkey the prettiest part. look at this:

#include <libowfat/str.h>

int str_diff(const char* a,const char* b);

two strings walk in, one int walks out. iconic. ✨

🎀 DESCRIPTION 🎀

so here's the tea, bestie. str_diff returns a negative, 0, or positive number, depending on whether the string a[0], a[1], ..., a[n]=='\0' is lexicographically smaller than, equal to, or greater than the string b[0], b[1], ..., b[m-1]=='\0'.

like... negative = a comes first, 0 = they're literally the same string, positive = b comes first. that's the whole vibe check. 👑

and here's the part that's actually kind of a flex: if the strings are different, str_diff does not read bytes past the first difference. so the moment she spots a mismatch she's out. no scrolling through the rest of the string, no wasted effort. she said "I've seen enough" and left. 😭🔥

⭐ no cap, that early-exit behaviour is the whole reason this function is fast — she stops the second the strings stop matching.

🫶 SEE ALSO 🫶

• strlen(3) — for when you just wanna know how long the thing is, not how it ranks against another thing.

and that's the page!! 🌈 cute little str_diff(3) from the Library Functions Manual, sitting pretty at the bottom of the page just like always. go compare some strings, bestie, you've got this. 💜🎀