C++ dot operator

Question

string dog = "dog"
string cat = "cat"
cout << dog.compare(cat);

// output is 1

I don't fully understanding the third line.
The dot operator is used to access the members of a class right?
How do strings lead to an int output?
What concepts are involved here?

Answer 1

A string is an object which has functions compare() is one of those functions that returns a integer value and displays it using the console output function.

Answer 2

Yes, the dot is member access operator. In this case access to `compare` method of std::string class. The `compare` method is used to compare the string object <dog> to another string object (<cat>), lexicographically.

To understand what value may be returned by `compare` method, refer to the following 👇

https://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/string/basic_string/compare

Answer 3

So the compare() method is essentially testing for string difference, yielding 0 if false, and 1 (or -1 depending on alphabetical spelling of the first string relative to the second) if true.