std::char_traits

#include <string>
#include <iostream>
#include <cctype>

struct ci_char_traits : public std::char_traits<char> {
    static bool eq(char c1, char c2) {
         return std::toupper(c1) == std::toupper(c2);
     }
    static bool ne(char c1, char c2) {
         return std::toupper(c1) != std::toupper(c2);
     }
    static bool lt(char c1, char c2) {
         return std::toupper(c1) <  std::toupper(c2);
    }
    static int compare(const char* s1, const char* s2, size_t n) {
        while( n-- != 0 ) {
            if( std::toupper(*s1) < std::toupper(*s2) ) return -1;
            if( std::toupper(*s1) > std::toupper(*s2) ) return 1;
            ++s1; ++s2;
        }
        return 0;
    }
    static const char* find(const char* s, int n, char a) {
        while( n-- > 0 && std::toupper(*s) != std::toupper(a) ) {
            ++s;
        }
        return s;
    }
};

typedef std::basic_string<char, ci_char_traits> ci_string;

std::ostream& operator<<(std::ostream& os, const ci_string& str) {
    return os.write(str.data(), str.size());
}

int main()
{
    ci_string s1 = "Hello";
    ci_string s2 = "heLLo";
    if(s1 == s2)
        std::cout << s1 << " and " << s2 << " are equal\n";
}