lex

Function: lex
Section: operators
C-Name: lexcmp
Prototype: iGG
Help: lex(x,y): compare x and y lexicographically (1 if x>y, 0 if x=y, -1 if x<y).
Doc: gives the result of a lexicographic comparison
 between $x$ and $y$ (as $-1$, $0$ or $1$). This is to be interpreted in quite
 a wide sense: it is admissible to compare objects of different types
 (scalars, vectors, matrices), provided the scalars can be compared, as well
 as vectors/matrices of different lengths; finally, when comparing two scalars,
 a complex number $a + I*b$ is interpreted as a vector $[a,b]$ and a real
 number $a$ as $[a,0]$. The comparison is recursive.

 In case all components are equal up to the smallest length of the operands,
 the more complex is considered to be larger. More precisely, the longest is
 the largest; when lengths are equal, we have matrix $>$ vector $>$ scalar.
 For example:
 \bprog
 ? lex([1,3], [1,2,5])
 %1 = 1
 ? lex([1,3], [1,3,-1])
 %2 = -1
 ? lex([1], [[1]])
 %3 = -1
 ? lex([1], [1]~)
 %4 = 0
 ? lex(2 - I, 1)
 %5 = 1
 ? lex(2 - I, 2)
 %6 = 2
 @eprog