How Does JavaScript\'s Lexicographical Ordering Affect String Comparisons?

String Comparison in JavaScript: Lexicographic Ordering Revealed

When comparing strings in JavaScript, one string may appear "greater" than another, even though their alphabetical counterparts may not have that relationship. This is due to the way JavaScript orders strings using lexicographical comparison.

Lexicographical ordering considers each character in the strings and compares them sequentially. The string with the character that appears earlier in the Unicode character set is considered "greater" than the string with the later character.

In the example provided:

var a = "one";
var b = "four";
a > b; // will return true

The characters in "one" and "four" are compared one by one from left to right. Since "o" (in "one") is alphabetically before "f" (in "four"), the comparison result will be true.

However, if we compare the strings "a" and "b":

var a = "a";
var b = "b";
a < b; // will return true

In this case, the first character in both strings is the same ("a"). Therefore, JavaScript moves on to the next character. Since "b" is alphabetically after "a," the comparison result is true.

In summary, JavaScript's string comparison is lexicographical, which means it considers the Unicode character order when determining the "greater" string. This may lead to unexpected results when comparing strings that differ in character sequences.

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