JavaScript Compare Strings

To compare two strings in JavaScript, we can use relational operators like less-than operator, greater-than operator, or equal-to operator.

Syntax

The boolean condition to check if string str1 is greater than string str2 is

str1 > str2

The boolean condition to check if string str1 is less than string str2 is

str1 < str2

The boolean condition to check if string str1 is equal to string str2 is

str1 == str2

Examples

The following is a quick example to check if two strings are equal in JavaScript.

var str1 = 'apple';
var str2 = 'banana';
if (str1 > str2) {
    //str1 is greater than str2.
}
if (str1 < str2) {
    //str1 is less than str2.
}
if (str1 == str2) {
    //str1 is equal to str2.
}

We may also use if-else-if to combine these individual if statements.

var str1 = 'apple';
var str2 = 'banana';
if (str1 > str2) {
    //str1 is greater than str2.
} else if (str1 < str2) {
    //str1 is less than str2.
} else {
    //str1 is equal to str2.
}

In the following example, we take two strings in script, and compare these strings using relational operators.

index.html

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
    <meta charset="utf-8">
</head>
<body>
    <div id="output"></div>
    <script>
        var str1 = 'apple';
        var str2 = 'banana';

        if (str1 > str2) {
            displayOutput = "str1 is greater than str2.";
        } else if (str1 < str2) {
            displayOutput = "str1 is less than str2.";
        } else {
            displayOutput = "str1 is equal to str2.";
        }
        document.getElementById('output').innerHTML = displayOutput;
    </script>
</body>
</html>

Conclusion

In this JavaScript Tutorial, we learned how to compare strings in JavaScript, using relational operators, with examples.