Java Byte compareTo() method example

Important Notes:

• The method compareTo(Byte anotherByte) is specified by compareTo in interface Comparable<Byte>

public int compareTo(Byte anotherByte)

The compareTo() method of Byte class returns the value 0 if this Byte is equal to the argument Byte; a value less than 0 if this Byte is numerically less than the argument Byte; and a value greater than 0 if this Byte is numerically greater than the argument Byte (signed comparison).

Requires Java 1.2 and up

To differentiate two numbers, usually our approach is to make use of if else conditional statements, and base on the results of the evaluation we determine the which one of the two numbers are greater or if they are equality. The compareTo method were devised as such that we can test the equality or compare two numbers without going the trouble of formulating the conditional statements. Well we might still be using the if condition however the conditional statements are more consistent now since we have only 3 possible values which are 0, <0, and >0.

The compareTo() method and compare() method yield the same result. The only difference is that if you want to just compare two primitive byte datatype without having to convert to Byte object, compare() method is already enough. However if you opt to compare two Byte object, the compareTo() method will do the job better.

Below is a simple java example on the usage of compareTo() method of Byte class.

package com.javatutorialhq.java.examples;

/*
 * This example source code demonstrates the use of 
 * compareTo(Byte anotherByte) method of Byte class.
 */

public class ByteCompareToExample {

	public static void main(String[] args) {

			// initialize 3 Byte object
			Byte firstValue = new Byte("12");
			Byte secondValue = 12;
			Byte thirdValue = 15;

			// compare the first byte to the second
			int compareOneTwo = firstValue.compareTo(secondValue);

			// compare the first byte to the third
			int compareOneThree = firstValue.compareTo(thirdValue);

			// display the comparison result of first
			// and second value
			if (compareOneTwo == 0) {
				System.out.println("First and second value are equal");
			}else if(compareOneTwo > 0){
				System.out.println("First value is greater than second value");
			}else{
				System.out.println("First value is less than second value");
			}
			
			// display the comparison result of first
			// and third value
			if (compareOneThree == 0) {
				System.out.println("First and third value are equal");
			}else if(compareOneTwo > 0){
				System.out.println("First value is greater than third value");
			}else{
				System.out.println("First value is less than third value");
			}
		
	}

}

Basically on the above example, we have declared three Byte values. We then use the compareTo method to do comparison of these three values. Based on the result of this method, we have devised a logic to display specific messages.

Below is the sample output when you run the above example.

• Java Byte Class Tutorial
• Java Tutorial

• Oracle Java Documentation