Case-insensitive string comparison in C++

Case-insensitive string comparison in C++

Boost includes a handy algorithm for this:

#include <boost/algorithm/string.hpp>
// Or, for fewer header dependencies:
//#include <boost/algorithm/string/predicate.hpp>

std::string str1 = hello, world!;
std::string str2 = HELLO, WORLD!;

if (boost::iequals(str1, str2))
{
    // Strings are identical
}

Take advantage of the standard char_traits. Recall that a std::string is in fact a typedef for std::basic_string<char>, or more explicitly, std::basic_string<char, std::char_traits<char> >. The char_traits type describes how characters compare, how they copy, how they cast etc. All you need to do is typedef a new string over basic_string, and provide it with your own custom char_traits that compare case insensitively.

struct ci_char_traits : public char_traits<char> {
    static bool eq(char c1, char c2) { return toupper(c1) == toupper(c2); }
    static bool ne(char c1, char c2) { return toupper(c1) != toupper(c2); }
    static bool lt(char c1, char c2) { return toupper(c1) <  toupper(c2); }
    static int compare(const char* s1, const char* s2, size_t n) {
        while( n-- != 0 ) {
            if( toupper(*s1) < toupper(*s2) ) return -1;
            if( toupper(*s1) > toupper(*s2) ) return 1;
            ++s1; ++s2;
        }
        return 0;
    }
    static const char* find(const char* s, int n, char a) {
        while( n-- > 0 && toupper(*s) != toupper(a) ) {
            ++s;
        }
        return s;
    }
};

typedef std::basic_string<char, ci_char_traits> ci_string;

The details are on Guru of The Week number 29.

Case-insensitive string comparison in C++

The trouble with boost is that you have to link with and depend on boost. Not easy in some cases (e.g. android).

And using char_traits means all your comparisons are case insensitive, which isnt usually what you want.

This should suffice. It should be reasonably efficient. Doesnt handle unicode or anything though.

bool iequals(const string& a, const string& b)
{
    unsigned int sz = a.size();
    if (b.size() != sz)
        return false;
    for (unsigned int i = 0; i < sz; ++i)
        if (tolower(a[i]) != tolower(b[i]))
            return false;
    return true;
}

Update: Bonus C++14 version (#include <algorithm>):

bool iequals(const string& a, const string& b)
{
    return std::equal(a.begin(), a.end(),
                      b.begin(), b.end(),
                      [](char a, char b) {
                          return tolower(a) == tolower(b);
                      });
}

---

Update: C++20 version using std::ranges:

#include <ranges>
#include <algorithm>
#include <string>

bool iequals(const std::string_view& lhs, const std::string_view& rhs) {
    auto to_lower{ std::ranges::views::transform(std::tolower) };
    return std::ranges::equal(lhs | to_lower, rhs | to_lower);
}