strcmp()

The strcmp(v1, v2) function takes two string values. It returns 0 if they are equal, -1 if v1 is less than v2, and 1 if v2 is greater than v1.

It returns NULL if either input is NULL.

For example:

CREATE TABLE sc_r (t varchar(20));
INSERT INTO sc_r VALUES('blue'), ('orange'), ('yellow');

SELECT r1.t, r2.t, strcmp(r1.t, r2.t) FROM sc_r AS r1, sc_r AS r2;
****
+--------+--------+--------------------+
| t      | t      | strcmp(r1.t, r2.t) |
+--------+--------+--------------------+
| blue   | blue   |                  0 |
| blue   | orange |                 -1 |
| blue   | yellow |                 -1 |
| orange | blue   |                  1 |
| orange | orange |                  0 |
| orange | yellow |                 -1 |
| yellow | blue   |                  1 |
| yellow | orange |                  1 |
| yellow | yellow |                  0 |
+--------+--------+--------------------+