Question

Given that:

String xa = "active" ; String xb = "passive";

int ct = xa.compareTo(xb);

What will be the value of ct?

Options

• 15

• 14

• −14

• −15

Answer 1

−15

Explanation:

• The Method: The compareTo() method compares two strings lexicographically (based on the ASCII/Unicode value of each character) starting from the very first character.
• The Calculation: It finds the first position where the two strings differ. Here, they differ at the very first character: 'a' in "active" and 'p' in "passive". The method subtracts the Unicode value of 'p' (112) from the Unicode value of 'a' (97), which results in 97 - 112 = -15.