Min$

MIN$(A1$,A2$,...,AN$)

The Min$ internal function returns the smallest string value in the set of strings inside parentheses (A1$, A2$ and so on). When comparing strings, the smallest value is the one with the lowest ASCII value. If only letters of the alphabet are being compared, MIN$ will return the string that is first in alphabetical order.

Comments and Examples

10 LET A$ = "red"
20 LET B$ = "green"
30 LET C$ = "blue"
40 PRINT MIN$(A$,B$,C$)

The above program will print the string "blue" (without the quotation marks).

Related Functions

MIN is a similar function for numbers. Similarly, MAX$ and MAX return the largest values.

Technical Considerations

1. The number of items that can be listed inside the parentheses is limited only by the maximum line length of 800 characters in source code or 255 characters in compiled code.
2. The COLLATE option in effect when the program was last saved or in the OPTION statement can alter the string comparisons within the MAX$ function.