VBScript: how to find the difference between two strings that look identical

Question

There are two strings "test_name" that are compared in a VB script. They have to be identical, and they look identical in debug viewer, but StrCompare(string1, string2) returns 1.

History. This is a test in QTP. The first string is read from Excel. The second one is from a windows application. QTP reads a value from Excel, enters it to a windows form, and then reads the same value from another place. The test passes if these two values are identical.

How to find a difference in these two strings so that I can correct the test?

Answer 1

I would suggest using a For loop, Mid , and Asc , to compare the actual characters one by one. Something like (untried code):

' Presume input strings named s1 and s2
' Assume Len(s1) = Len(s2)
Dim i

For i = 1 to Len(s1)
   If Asc(Mid(s1, i, 1)) <> Asc(Mid(s2, i, 1)) Then
        Msgbox "Strings differ at character " & i
    End If
Next 'i

If they are equal by this test, and unequal by StrComp then... I don't really know. Perhaps try the same thing with LenB and AscB to see if it's a Unicode or encoding issue somehow.

Answer 2

Most likely you have trailing spaces at the end (or something else that prints like a space). Try to print them like this:

Debug.Print "*" & string1 & "*"
Debug.Print "*" & string2 & "*"

and see what you get.

Answer 3

Did you try using the parameter vbTextCompare in your StrComnpare ? This would do case-insensitive comparison of both strings.

I also would have recommended what the 2 above said.

So it would be:

StrCompare(String1, String2, vbTextCompare)

Kind Regards,