Operator < (Less than)

• Source: https://www.freebasic.net/wiki/wikka.php?wakka=KeyPgOpLessThan
• Last revised: 2022-03-14

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Compares an expression less than another expression

Syntax

declare operator < ( byref lhs as byte, byref rhs as byte ) as integer
declare operator < ( byref lhs as ubyte, byref rhs as ubyte ) as integer
declare operator < ( byref lhs as short, byref rhs as short ) as integer
declare operator < ( byref lhs as ushort, byref rhs as ushort ) as integer
declare operator < ( byref lhs as integer, byref rhs as integer ) as integer
declare operator < ( byref lhs as uinteger, byref rhs as uinteger ) as integer
declare operator < ( byref lhs as longint, byref rhs as longint ) as integer
declare operator < ( byref lhs as ulongint, byref rhs as ulongint ) as integer

declare operator < ( byref lhs as single, byref rhs as single ) as integer
declare operator < ( byref lhs as double, byref rhs as double ) as integer

declare operator < ( byref lhs as string, byref rhs as string ) as integer
declare operator < ( byref lhs as zstring, byref rhs as zstring ) as integer
declare operator < ( byref lhs as wstring, byref rhs as wstring ) as integer

declare operator < ( byref lhs as T, byref rhs as T ) as integer

Usage

` result = lhs < rhs

`

Parameters

lhs

The left-hand side expression to compare to.

rhs

The right-hand side expression to compare to.

T

Any pointer type.

Return Value

Returns negative one (-1) if the left-hand side expression is less than the right-hand side expression, or zero (0) if greater than or equal.

Description

Operator < (Less than) is a binary operator that compares two expressions for inequality and returns the result - a boolean value in the form of an Integer: negative one (-1) for true and zero (0) for false. The arguments are not modified in any way.

When this operator is applied to string type data, then a lexicographic/alphabetic order comparison is performed (ordered from the numeric ASCII values of the characters of the two strings).

This operator can be overloaded to accept user-defined types as well.

Examples

start GeSHi

Const size As Integer = 4
Dim array(size - 1) As Integer = { 1, 2, 3, 4 }

Dim index As Integer = 0
While (index < size)
   Print array(index)
   index += 1
Wend

end GeSHi

Operator >= (Greater than or equal) is complement to Operator < (Less than), and is functionally identical when combined with Operator Not (Bit-wise Complement).

start GeSHi

   If (69 < 420) Then Print "(69 < 420) is true."
   If Not (69 >= 420) Then Print "not (69 >= 420) is true."

end GeSHi

Dialect Differences

• In the -lang qb dialect, this operator cannot be overloaded.

Differences from QB

• none

See also

• Operator >= (Greater than or equal)

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