In what cases and what specific values does the Comparator interface return when performing a comparison?

The Comparator interface in Java is used for comparing two objects. The method compare(T o1, T o2) returns:

• A negative number if o1 is less than o2.
• Zero if o1 is equal to o2.
• A positive number if o1 is greater than o2.

This allows determining the order of objects during sorting or other comparison operations.

Example:

Comparator<Integer> comparator = (a, b) -> a - b;
int result = comparator.compare(5, 10); // result will be negative