comparing two integers arrays in c++ string printing

Question

I am trying to compare two arrays.where if it is true it needs to print the string.since it need to print only one time but the string is printing three times .where i have stored three values in both arrays.can you guys spot and tell me what is wrong.

for (int i = 0; i < n; i++)
{
    if (l[i] == g[i])
    {
        cout << "equal" << endl;
    }

    else if (l[i] < g[i])
    {
        cout << "lesser" << endl;
    }
    else if (l[i] > g[i])
    {
        cout << "greater" << endl;
    }
}

Answer 1

I'm guessing that you're trying to do a lexicographic comparison .

It should be obvious that if you want to print the message only once then you shouldn't put the print statements inside the loop.

The following code works how I think you want your code to work. The result of the comparison is stored in a variable result and that variable is examined only after the loop has finished. I use break because once you have found an item that is not equal there is no need to carry on the comparison.

int result = 0;
for (int i = 0; i < n; i++)
{
    if (l[i] < g[i])
    {
        result = -1;
        break;
    }
    else if (l[i] > g[i])
    {
        result = +1;
        break;
    }
}
if (result == 0)
    cout << "equal" << endl;
else if (result < 0)
    cout << "lesser" << endl;
else
    cout << "greater" << endl;

Answer 2

You could simplify:

for (int i = 0; i < n; ++i)
{
  const int l_value = l[i];
  const int g_value = g[i];
  if (l_value == g_value)
  {
    cout << "slot[" << i << "] is equal\n";
  }
  else
  {
    if (l_value < g_value)
    {
       cout << "slot[" << i << "] is less than\n";
    }
    else
    {
       cout << "slot[" << i << "] is greater than\n";
    }
  }
}

In order compare the entire array, you'll need to sort it first. The "less than" and "greater than" apply to a sorted array.