&nbsp;int</CODE></FONT></TD>
<TD><CODE><B><A HREF="../../../../com/icl/saxon/sort/Compare_en.html#compare(java.lang.Object, java.lang.Object)">compare</A></B>(java.lang.Object&nbsp;a,
        java.lang.Object&nbsp;b)</CODE>

<BR>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Compare two string objects, in three phases:
 (a) ignoring accents and case
 (b) if still equal, ignoring case
 (c) if still equal, taking case into account</TD>
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