.BG
.FN compare
.TL
three-level comparison
.CS
compare(e1, e2)
.AG e1, e2
any objects containing atomic data (logical, numeric, character, complex).
.RT
a numeric object, containing values `+1', `0', and `-1' corresponding
to elements where `e1' is respectively greater than, equal to, or less
than `e2'.
The function behaves like the arithmetic and comparison operator in that
it replicates shorter arguments and preserves attributes if one of the
arguments has them.
.EX
.Si "compare(5:1,1:5)"
[1]  1  1  0 -1 -1
.WR
