Case Insensitive String comp in C

Question

I have two postcodes char* that I want to compare, ignoring case. Is there a function to do this?

Or do I have to loop through each use the tolower func

Answer 1

I'm not really a fan of the most-upvoted answer here (in part because it seems like it isn't correct since it should continue if it reads a null terminator in either string--but not both strings at once--and it doesn't do this), so I wrote my own.

This is a direct drop-in replacement for strncmp(), and has been tested with numerous test cases, as shown below.

It is identical to strncmp() except:

1. It is case-insensitive.
2. The behavior is NOT undefined (it is well-defined) if either string is a null ptr. Regular strncmp() has undefined behavior if either string is a null ptr (see: https://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/string/byte/strncmp).
3. It returns INT_MIN as a special sentinel error value if either input string is a NULL ptr.

LIMITATIONS: Note that this code works on the original 7-bit ASCII character set only (decimal values 0 to 127, inclusive), NOT on unicode characters, such as unicode character encodings UTF-8 (the most popular), UTF-16, and UTF-32.

Here is the code only (no comments):

int strncmpci(const char * str1, const char * str2, size_t num)
{
    int ret_code = 0;
    size_t chars_compared = 0;

    if (!str1 || !str2)
    {
        ret_code = INT_MIN;
        return ret_code;
    }

    while ((*str1 || *str2) && (chars_compared < num))
    {
        ret_code = tolower((int)(*str1)) - tolower((int)(*str2));
        if (ret_code != 0)
        {
            break;
        }
        chars_compared++;
        str1++;
        str2++;
    }

    return ret_code;
}

Fully-commented version:

/// \brief      Perform a case-insensitive string compare (`strncmp()` case-insensitive) to see
///             if two C-strings are equal.
/// \note       1. Identical to `strncmp()` except:
///               1. It is case-insensitive.
///               2. The behavior is NOT undefined (it is well-defined) if either string is a null
///               ptr. Regular `strncmp()` has undefined behavior if either string is a null ptr
///               (see: https://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/string/byte/strncmp).
///               3. It returns `INT_MIN` as a special sentinel value for certain errors.
///             - Posted as an answer here: https://stackoverflow.com/a/55293507/4561887.
///               - Aided/inspired, in part, by `strcicmp()` here:
///                 https://stackoverflow.com/a/5820991/4561887.
/// \param[in]  str1        C string 1 to be compared.
/// \param[in]  str2        C string 2 to be compared.
/// \param[in]  num         max number of chars to compare
/// \return     A comparison code (identical to `strncmp()`, except with the addition
///             of `INT_MIN` as a special sentinel value):
///
///             INT_MIN (usually -2147483648 for int32_t integers)  Invalid arguments (one or both
///                      of the input strings is a NULL pointer).
///             <0       The first character that does not match has a lower value in str1 than
///                      in str2.
///              0       The contents of both strings are equal.
///             >0       The first character that does not match has a greater value in str1 than
///                      in str2.
int strncmpci(const char * str1, const char * str2, size_t num)
{
    int ret_code = 0;
    size_t chars_compared = 0;

    // Check for NULL pointers
    if (!str1 || !str2)
    {
        ret_code = INT_MIN;
        return ret_code;
    }

    // Continue doing case-insensitive comparisons, one-character-at-a-time, of `str1` to `str2`,
    // as long as at least one of the strings still has more characters in it, and we have
    // not yet compared `num` chars.
    while ((*str1 || *str2) && (chars_compared < num))
    {
        ret_code = tolower((int)(*str1)) - tolower((int)(*str2));
        if (ret_code != 0)
        {
            // The 2 chars just compared don't match
            break;
        }
        chars_compared++;
        str1++;
        str2++;
    }

    return ret_code;
}

Test code:

Download the entire sample code, with unit tests, from my eRCaGuy_hello_world repository here: "strncmpci.c":

(this is just a snippet)

int main()
{
    printf("-----------------------\n"
           "String Comparison Tests\n"
           "-----------------------\n\n");

    int num_failures_expected = 0;

    printf("INTENTIONAL UNIT TEST FAILURE to show what a unit test failure looks like!\n");
    EXPECT_EQUALS(strncmpci("hey", "HEY", 3), 'h' - 'H');
    num_failures_expected++;
    printf("------ beginning ------\n\n");


    const char * str1;
    const char * str2;
    size_t n;

    // NULL ptr checks
    EXPECT_EQUALS(strncmpci(NULL, "", 0), INT_MIN);
    EXPECT_EQUALS(strncmpci("", NULL, 0), INT_MIN);
    EXPECT_EQUALS(strncmpci(NULL, NULL, 0), INT_MIN);
    EXPECT_EQUALS(strncmpci(NULL, "", 10), INT_MIN);
    EXPECT_EQUALS(strncmpci("", NULL, 10), INT_MIN);
    EXPECT_EQUALS(strncmpci(NULL, NULL, 10), INT_MIN);

    EXPECT_EQUALS(strncmpci("", "", 0), 0);
    EXPECT_EQUALS(strncmp("", "", 0), 0);

    str1 = "";
    str2 = "";
    n = 0;
    EXPECT_EQUALS(strncmpci(str1, str2, n), 0);
    EXPECT_EQUALS(strncmp(str1, str2, n), 0);

    str1 = "hey";
    str2 = "HEY";
    n = 0;
    EXPECT_EQUALS(strncmpci(str1, str2, n), 0);
    EXPECT_EQUALS(strncmp(str1, str2, n), 0);

    str1 = "hey";
    str2 = "HEY";
    n = 3;
    EXPECT_EQUALS(strncmpci(str1, str2, n), 0);
    EXPECT_EQUALS(strncmp(str1, str2, n), 'h' - 'H');

    str1 = "heY";
    str2 = "HeY";
    n = 3;
    EXPECT_EQUALS(strncmpci(str1, str2, n), 0);
    EXPECT_EQUALS(strncmp(str1, str2, n), 'h' - 'H');

    str1 = "hey";
    str2 = "HEdY";
    n = 3;
    EXPECT_EQUALS(strncmpci(str1, str2, n), 'y' - 'd');
    EXPECT_EQUALS(strncmp(str1, str2, n), 'h' - 'H');

    str1 = "heY";
    str2 = "hEYd";
    n = 3;
    EXPECT_EQUALS(strncmpci(str1, str2, n), 0);
    EXPECT_EQUALS(strncmp(str1, str2, n), 'e' - 'E');

    str1 = "heY";
    str2 = "heyd";
    n = 6;
    EXPECT_EQUALS(strncmpci(str1, str2, n), -'d');
    EXPECT_EQUALS(strncmp(str1, str2, n), 'Y' - 'y');

    str1 = "hey";
    str2 = "hey";
    n = 6;
    EXPECT_EQUALS(strncmpci(str1, str2, n), 0);
    EXPECT_EQUALS(strncmp(str1, str2, n), 0);

    str1 = "hey";
    str2 = "heyd";
    n = 6;
    EXPECT_EQUALS(strncmpci(str1, str2, n), -'d');
    EXPECT_EQUALS(strncmp(str1, str2, n), -'d');

    str1 = "hey";
    str2 = "heyd";
    n = 3;
    EXPECT_EQUALS(strncmpci(str1, str2, n), 0);
    EXPECT_EQUALS(strncmp(str1, str2, n), 0);

    str1 = "hEY";
    str2 = "heyYOU";
    n = 3;
    EXPECT_EQUALS(strncmpci(str1, str2, n), 0);
    EXPECT_EQUALS(strncmp(str1, str2, n), 'E' - 'e');

    str1 = "hEY";
    str2 = "heyYOU";
    n = 10;
    EXPECT_EQUALS(strncmpci(str1, str2, n), -'y');
    EXPECT_EQUALS(strncmp(str1, str2, n), 'E' - 'e');

    str1 = "hEYHowAre";
    str2 = "heyYOU";
    n = 10;
    EXPECT_EQUALS(strncmpci(str1, str2, n), 'h' - 'y');
    EXPECT_EQUALS(strncmp(str1, str2, n), 'E' - 'e');

    EXPECT_EQUALS(strncmpci("nice to meet you.,;", "NICE TO MEET YOU.,;", 100), 0);
    EXPECT_EQUALS(strncmp(  "nice to meet you.,;", "NICE TO MEET YOU.,;", 100), 'n' - 'N');
    EXPECT_EQUALS(strncmp(  "nice to meet you.,;", "nice to meet you.,;", 100), 0);

    EXPECT_EQUALS(strncmpci("nice to meet you.,;", "NICE TO UEET YOU.,;", 100), 'm' - 'u');
    EXPECT_EQUALS(strncmp(  "nice to meet you.,;", "nice to uEET YOU.,;", 100), 'm' - 'u');
    EXPECT_EQUALS(strncmp(  "nice to meet you.,;", "nice to UEET YOU.,;", 100), 'm' - 'U');

    EXPECT_EQUALS(strncmpci("nice to meet you.,;", "NICE TO MEET YOU.,;", 5), 0);
    EXPECT_EQUALS(strncmp(  "nice to meet you.,;", "NICE TO MEET YOU.,;", 5), 'n' - 'N');

    EXPECT_EQUALS(strncmpci("nice to meet you.,;", "NICE eo UEET YOU.,;", 5), 0);
    EXPECT_EQUALS(strncmp(  "nice to meet you.,;", "nice eo uEET YOU.,;", 5), 0);

    EXPECT_EQUALS(strncmpci("nice to meet you.,;", "NICE eo UEET YOU.,;", 100), 't' - 'e');
    EXPECT_EQUALS(strncmp(  "nice to meet you.,;", "nice eo uEET YOU.,;", 100), 't' - 'e');

    EXPECT_EQUALS(strncmpci("nice to meet you.,;", "nice-eo UEET YOU.,;", 5), ' ' - '-');
    EXPECT_EQUALS(strncmp(  "nice to meet you.,;", "nice-eo UEET YOU.,;", 5), ' ' - '-');


    if (globals.error_count == num_failures_expected)
    {
        printf(ANSI_COLOR_GRN "All unit tests passed!" ANSI_COLOR_OFF "\n");
    }
    else
    {
        printf(ANSI_COLOR_RED "FAILED UNIT TESTS! NUMBER OF UNEXPECTED FAILURES = %i"
            ANSI_COLOR_OFF "\n", globals.error_count - num_failures_expected);
    }

    assert(globals.error_count == num_failures_expected);
    return globals.error_count;
}

Sample output:

$ gcc -Wall -Wextra -Werror -ggdb -std=c11 -o ./bin/tmp strncmpci.c && ./bin/tmp
-----------------------
String Comparison Tests
-----------------------

INTENTIONAL UNIT TEST FAILURE to show what a unit test failure looks like!
FAILED at line 250 in function main! strncmpci("hey", "HEY", 3) != 'h' - 'H'
  a: strncmpci("hey", "HEY", 3) is 0
  b: 'h' - 'H' is 32

------ beginning ------

All unit tests passed!

References:

1. This question & other answers here served as inspiration and gave some insight (Case Insensitive String comp in C)
2. http://www.cplusplus.com/reference/cstring/strncmp/
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASCII
4. https://en.cppreference.com/w/c/language/operator_precedence

Topics to further research

1. (Note: this is C++, not C) Lowercase of Unicode character
2. tolower_tests.c on OnlineGDB: https://onlinegdb.com/HyZieXcew

TODO:

1. Make a version of this code which also works on Unicode's UTF-8 implementation (character encoding)!