Comparing strings, c++

Question

I have a question:

Let's say there are two std::strings and I want to compare them, there is the option of using the compare() function of the string class but I also noticed that it is possible using simple < > != operators (both of the cases are possible even if I don't include the <string> library). Can someone explain why the compare() function exists if a comparison can be made using simple operators?

btw I use Code::Blocks 13.12 here is an example of my code:

#include <iostream> #include <string>  using std::cin; using std::cout; using std::endl; using std::string; using std::getline;  int main() {     string temp1, temp2;     cout << "Enter first word: ";     getline (cin,temp1);     cout << "Enter second word: ";     getline (cin,temp2);     cout << "First word: " << temp1 << endl << "Second word: " << temp2 << endl;     if (temp1 > temp2)     {         cout << "One" << endl;     }     if (temp1.compare(temp2) < 0)     {         cout << "Two" << endl;     }     return 0; }     

Answer 1

.compare() returns an integer, which is a measure of the difference between the two strings.

• A return value of 0 indicates that the two strings compare as equal.
• A positive value means that the compared string is longer, or the first non-matching character is greater.
• A negative value means that the compared string is shorter, or the first non-matching character is lower.

operator== simply returns a boolean, indicating whether the strings are equal or not.

If you don't need the extra detail, you may as well just use ==.