Apropos

char=, char/=, char<, char>, char<=, char>=, char-equal, char-not-equal, char-lessp, char-greaterp, char-not-greaterp, char-not-lesspFunction

    Syntax
    char= &rest characters+ generalized-boolean
    char/= &rest characters+ generalized-boolean
    char< &rest characters+ generalized-boolean
    char> &rest characters+ generalized-boolean
    char<= &rest characters+ generalized-boolean
    char>= &rest characters+ generalized-boolean
    char-equal &rest characters+ generalized-boolean
    char-not-equal &rest characters+ generalized-boolean
    char-lessp &rest characters+ generalized-boolean
    char-greaterp &rest characters+ generalized-boolean
    char-not-greaterp &rest characters+ generalized-boolean
    char-not-lessp &rest characters+ generalized-boolean
    Arguments and Values

    character — a character.

    generalized-boolean — a generalized boolean.

    Description

    These predicates compare characters.

    char= returns true if all characters are the same; otherwise, it returns false. If two characters differ in any implementation-defined attributes, then they are not char=.

    char/= returns true if all characters are different; otherwise, it returns false.

    char< returns true if the characters are monotonically increasing; otherwise, it returns false. If two characters have identical implementation-defined attributes, then their ordering by char< is consistent with the numerical ordering by the predicate < on their codes.

    char> returns true if the characters are monotonically decreasing; otherwise, it returns false. If two characters have identical implementation-defined attributes, then their ordering by char> is consistent with the numerical ordering by the predicate > on their codes.

    char<= returns true if the characters are monotonically nondecreasing; otherwise, it returns false. If two characters have identical implementation-defined attributes, then their ordering by char<= is consistent with the numerical ordering by the predicate <= on their codes.

    char>= returns true if the characters are monotonically nonincreasing; otherwise, it returns false. If two characters have identical implementation-defined attributes, then their ordering by char>= is consistent with the numerical ordering by the predicate >= on their codes.

    char-equal, char-not-equal, char-lessp, char-greaterp, char-not-greaterp, and char-not-lessp are similar to char=, char/=, char<, char>, char<=, char>=, respectively, except that they ignore differences in case and might have an implementation-defined behavior for non-simple characters. For example, an implementation might define that char-equal, etc. ignore certain implementation-defined attributes. The effect, if any, of each implementation-defined attribute upon these functions must be specified as part of the definition of that attribute.

    Examples
     (char= #\d #\d)  true 
     (char= #\A #\a)  false 
     (char= #\d #\x)  false 
     (char= #\d #\D)  false 
     (char/= #\d #\d)  false 
     (char/= #\d #\x)  true 
     (char/= #\d #\D)  true 
     (char= #\d #\d #\d #\d)  true 
     (char/= #\d #\d #\d #\d)  false 
     (char= #\d #\d #\x #\d)  false 
     (char/= #\d #\d #\x #\d)  false 
     (char= #\d #\y #\x #\c)  false 
     (char/= #\d #\y #\x #\c)  true 
     (char= #\d #\c #\d)  false 
     (char/= #\d #\c #\d)  false 
     (char< #\d #\x)  true 
     (char<= #\d #\x)  true 
     (char< #\d #\d)  false 
     (char<= #\d #\d)  true 
     (char< #\a #\e #\y #\z)  true 
     (char<= #\a #\e #\y #\z)  true 
     (char< #\a #\e #\e #\y)  false 
     (char<= #\a #\e #\e #\y)  true 
     (char> #\e #\d)  true 
     (char>= #\e #\d)  true 
     (char> #\d #\c #\b #\a)  true 
     (char>= #\d #\c #\b #\a)  true 
     (char> #\d #\d #\c #\a)  false 
     (char>= #\d #\d #\c #\a)  true 
     (char> #\e #\d #\b #\c #\a)  false 
     (char>= #\e #\d #\b #\c #\a)  false 
     (char> #\z #\A)  implementation-dependent 
     (char> #\Z #\a)  implementation-dependent 
     (char-equal #\A #\a)  true 
     (stable-sort (list #\b #\A #\B #\a #\c #\C) #'char-lessp) 
     (#\A #\a #\b #\B #\c #\C) 
     (stable-sort (list #\b #\A #\B #\a #\c #\C) #'char<) 
     (#\A #\B #\C #\a #\b #\c) ;Implementation A 
     (#\a #\b #\c #\A #\B #\C) ;Implementation B 
     (#\a #\A #\b #\B #\c #\C) ;Implementation C 
     (#\A #\a #\B #\b #\C #\c) ;Implementation D 
     (#\A #\B #\a #\b #\C #\c) ;Implementation E
    Exceptional Situations

    Should signal an error of type program-error if at least one character is not supplied.

    See Also

    Section 2.1 (Character Syntax), Section 13.1.10 (Documentation of Implementation-Defined Scripts)

    Notes

    If characters differ in their code attribute or any implementation-defined attribute, they are considered to be different by char=.

    There is no requirement that (eq c1 c2) be true merely because (char= c1 c2) is true. While eq can distinguish two characters that char= does not, it is distinguishing them not as characters, but in some sense on the basis of a lower level implementation characteristic. If (eq c1 c2) is true, then (char= c1 c2) is also true. eql and equal compare characters in the same way that char= does.

    The manner in which case is used by char-equal, char-not-equal, char-lessp, char-greaterp, char-not-greaterp, and char-not-lessp implies an ordering for standard characters such that A=a, B=b, and so on, up to Z=z, and furthermore either 9<A or Z<0.