wmemcmp(3)

💖 wmemcmp — bestie edition 💖

okay so listen. this is wmemcmp from the wmemcmp(3) manual page, and she is the wide-character glow-up of memcmp(3). no cap. let's get into it 🦋

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✨ NAME ✨

wmemcmp — compare two arrays of wide-characters 🌸

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📚 LIBRARY 📚

Standard C library (libc, -lc) — the classic, the icon, the one that's already on your machine 💅

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🎀 SYNOPSIS 🎀

#include <wchar.h>

int wmemcmp(size_t n;
            const wchar_t s1[n], const wchar_t s2[n], size_t n);

yes bestie that is literally the whole thing. she's compact. she knows what she is. 👑

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💫 DESCRIPTION 💫

so wmemcmp() is the wide-character equivalent of the memcmp(3) function — like, same energy, but for wide chars instead of plain bytes. 🧚

what she actually does: she compares the n wide-characters starting at s1 against the n wide-characters starting at s2. that's it. that's the job. and she does it well. 🔥

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🫶 RETURN VALUE 🫶

here's the vibe check results, and you need to know these:

• she returns zero if the wide-character arrays of size n at s1 and s2 are equal. happy ending, besties are matching 💚
• she returns an integer greater than zero if, at the first differing position i (where i < n), the corresponding wide-character s1[i] is greater than s2[i]. so s1[i] > s2[i], she wins, main character energy 👑
• she returns an integer less than zero if, at the first differing position i (where i < n), the corresponding wide-character s1[i] is less than s2[i]. so s1[i] < s2[i], she's giving soft launch 😭

note the i < n in both of those — the difference has to actually happen inside your array. that's the whole point. periodt.

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🌈 ATTRIBUTES 🌈

for an explanation of the terms used in this section, go peek at attributes(7) — she explains the vocabulary, i just deliver the gossip 💖

• Interface: wmemcmp() — Attribute: Thread safety — Value: MT-Safe ✨

so yeah. multiple threads can call her at the same time and everything stays cute. MT-Safe, no drama, no data races, we love to see it 🎀

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⭐ STANDARDS ⭐

C11, POSIX.1-2008. officially official. certified. 📜

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🕰️ HISTORY 🕰️

she came through in POSIX.1-2001 and C99. an elder icon who has been serving since the early 2000s 💜

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👀 SEE ALSO 👀

• memcmp(3) — the byte-level original, her inspiration 💫
• wcscmp(3) — the null-terminated cousin, different personality, also iconic 🦋

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🌸 cutie sign-off 🌸

this lil page came from Linux man-pages 6.20, dated 2026-02-08, and it's the wmemcmp(3) entry babes 🎀 go forth, compare your wide-characters, stay MT-Safe, and remember: zero means equal, and equal means slay 💅✨