@section Comparison of Characters and Strings
@cindex string equality
@cindex text comparison
+@cindex string comparison
+@cindex compare characters
@defun char-equal character1 character2
This function returns @code{t} if the arguments represent the same
character, @code{nil} otherwise. This function ignores differences
@end example
@end defun
+@cindex compare strings
@defun string-equal string1 string2
This function returns @code{t} if the characters of the two strings
match exactly. Symbols are also allowed as arguments, in which case
@code{string=} is another name for @code{string-equal}.
@end defun
+@cindex case-insensitive string comparison
@defun string-equal-ignore-case string1 string2
@code{string-equal-ignore-case} compares strings ignoring case
differences, like @code{char-equal} when @code{case-fold-search} is
@end defun
@cindex locale-dependent string comparison
+@cindex string collation
@defun string-collate-lessp string1 string2 &optional locale ignore-case
This function returns @code{t} if @var{string1} is less than
@var{string2} in collation order of the specified @var{locale}, which
behaves like @code{string-lessp}.
@end defun
+@cindex version comparison
+@cindex comparing version strings
@defun string-version-lessp string1 string2
This function compares strings lexicographically, except it treats
sequences of numerical characters as if they comprised a base-ten
@samp{12} is lexicographically ``smaller'' than @samp{2}.
@end defun
+@cindex string starts with prefix
@defun string-prefix-p string1 string2 &optional ignore-case
This function returns non-@code{nil} if @var{string1} is a prefix of
@var{string2}; i.e., if @var{string2} starts with @var{string1}. If
comparison ignores case differences.
@end defun
+@cindex string ends with suffix
@defun string-suffix-p suffix string &optional ignore-case
This function returns non-@code{nil} if @var{suffix} is a suffix of
@var{string}; i.e., if @var{string} ends with @var{suffix}. If the