Comparing Strings

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Both Excel VBA and Python support string comparison using relational operators or dedicated functions.

Using Relational Operators

[Excel VBA] Relational operators (<, <=, >, >=, =, <>) compare strings character-by-character from left to right. Example:

code.vba 
Sub Test()
    Dim strA As String, strB As String
    strA = "abc"
    strB = "abc123"
    Debug.Print strA < strB  ' True(shorter string is "smaller" if prefixes match)
End Sub

[Python] Use ==/!= (value equality), is (object identity), in/not in (substring check).

code.python 
>>> a = 'abc'
>>> b = 'abc123'
>>> a == b          # False(values differ)
>>> a != b          # True
>>> a is b          # False(different objects)
>>> 'abc' in b      # True (substring exists)
>>> 'd' not in b    # True (substring does not exist)

Using Functions

[Excel VBA] Use StrComp to compare strings. Returns:

-1: String1 < String2

0: String1 = String2

1: String1 > String2

Null: Either string is Null.

Syntax:

code.vba 
StrComp(String1, String2[, Compare])

Example:

code.vba 
Sub Test2()
    Dim strA As String, strB As String, strC As String
    Dim varComp1, varComp2, varComp3
    strA = "abc"
    strB = "abc123"
    strC = "ABc"

    varComp1 = StrComp(strA, strB)                  ' Case-sensitive: -1(abc < abc123)
    varComp2 = StrComp(strA, strC)                  ' Case-sensitive: 1(abc > ABc)
    varComp3 = StrComp(strA, strC, vbTextCompare)   ' Case-insensitive: 0(abc = ABc)
    Debug.Print varComp1, varComp2, varComp3        ' -1 1 0
End Sub

[Python] Python 3 has no direct equivalent to StrComp, but the operator module provides similar functions (Table 6-7).

Table 6-7 String Comparison Functions in operator Module

Example:

code.python 
>>> class="text-secondary">import operator class="text-secondary">as op
>>> op.lt('a', 7;b')          # True(a < b)
>>> op.eq('a123', &#x27;a12b')    # False(a123 ≠ a12b)
>>> op.ge('forpython', &#x27;forvba')  # False(forpython < forvba)

Other string comparison functions (Table 6-8):

Table 6-8 Additional String Comparison Functions

Examples:

code.python 
>>> 'Abc123'.isalnum()  # True (letters and digits)
>>> 'Abc123'.isalpha()  # False (contains digits)
>>> '123123'.isdigit()  # True (all digits)
>>> '123.123'.isnumeric()  # False (contains '.')
>>> 'abc'.islower()     # True (all lowercase)
>>> max('Abc')          # 'c' (largest character)