Compare two C strings for equality.
C: strcmp returns zero only when both null-terminated byte strings are equal.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <ctype.h>
#include <stdint.h>
#include <stdbool.h>
#include <errno.h>
#include <limits.h>
#include <math.h>
#include <time.h>
int main(void) {
printf("%s\n", strcmp("hello", "hello") == 0 ? "equal" : "different");
return 0;
}Expected output EXAMPLE
equal
Details
Save as snippet.c; compile with gcc -std=c17 -Wall -Wextra snippet.c -lm -o snippet, then run ./snippet. strcmp returns zero only when both null-terminated byte strings are equal.
Tested on Ubuntu 24.04.5 LTS · · gcc (Ubuntu 13.3.0-6ubuntu2~24.04.1) 13.3.0 · gcc 4:13.2.0-7ubuntu1
Test inputs, results and environment
The exact published code ran in a dedicated Linux test container with prepared inputs. Unprivileged snippet process, external networking disabled, read-only root filesystem, and a fresh temporary working directory. Fixtures and output records are isolated from the application database. Testing covers this example and its stated checks, not every input, operating system, or runtime version. The Linux container shares its host's kernel; this is not a native Windows test.
- Architecture / host kernel
- x86_64 / 6.18.54.1-microsoft-standard-WSL2
- Snippet identity / locale
- uid=65534, gid=65534 (unprivileged) / C.UTF-8
- Interpreter invocation
gcc -std=c17 -Wall -Wextra -Werror snippet.c -lm -o snippet && ./snippet- Container image ID
sha256:32dc2d998158b6554c99b73b533f423696a0f3e31e8cbea9db10b5eee9a2fadd- Code SHA-256
5bb782379852e909ac81822d2fb4ce9a36f2965af4e7dfe27a60bb4aff7e51de- Dependencies
- gcc 4:13.2.0-7ubuntu1
Test input setup
These are the prepared inputs used by the test harness. See Details above for the prerequisites and how to run this example.
# No input files required.
Observed standard output
equal
Exit code: 0. Standard error: empty. Validation: Exact stdout comparison. System-dependent values above are one recorded run.