stringvelocitylexicographic-ordering

Lexicographic compare of two strings in Velocity

I have two string variables in a Velocity template. I want to do a lexicographic compare. I tried this:

#if ($string1 > $string2)
  #set ($largest = $string1)
#else
  #set ($largest = $string2)
#end
## (assume `$string1` and `$string2` are never Null)

So, if $string1 contains the string "dog" and $string2 contains the string "cat", then $largest will end up containing the string "dog".

The above code generates this message:

Left side of '>=' operation is not a Number

How can I do the compare I want?

Solution

  • You can use Java String's compareTo method to compare strings

    The result is a positive integer if this String object lexicographically follows the argument string

    #if ($string1.compareTo($string2) > 0)
  #set ($largest = $string1)
#else
  #set ($largest = $string2)
#end