Why Does '2' Appear Greater Than '10' in JavaScript?

Javascript: Understanding String vs. Integer Comparisons

In JavaScript, comparing strings and integers can sometimes lead to unexpected results. Strings are inherently different from numbers, and the comparison rules can differ greatly between the two.

Consider the following example:

console.log("2" > "10"); // Returns true

This may seem counterintuitive, but it's due to the way JavaScript handles string comparisons. Strings are compared lexicographically, meaning they are compared character by character. In this case, "2" is lexicographically greater than "10" since its first character ("2") comes after "1" in the alphabetical order.

To avoid this issue and ensure integer comparisons, we need to parse the strings into integers explicitly using the parseInt() function. Here's a corrected example:

console.log(parseInt("2", 10) > parseInt("10", 10)); // Returns false

By parsing the strings into integers using the base-10 conversion (10), we ensure that the comparison is performed numerically, resulting in the expected outcome. This approach is essential for any scenario where integer comparisons are crucial.

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