Take a look at the String.compareTo method.

Copys1.compareTo(s2)

From the javadocs:

The result is a negative integer if this String object lexicographically precedes the argument string. The result is a positive integer if this String object lexicographically follows the argument string. The result is zero if the strings are equal; compareTo returns 0 exactly when the equals(Object) method would return true.

this should work:

Copyif len(x)==len(y):
   return min(x,y)

Copyint compare = a.compareTo(b);
if (compare < 0){
    System.out.println(a + " is before " +b);
} else if (compare > 0) {
    System.out.println(b + " is before " +a);
} else {
    System.out.println("Strings are equal")
}