diff --git a/lib/std/mem.zig b/lib/std/mem.zig
index 24daa4a508f6fde819c5d558a5e3dd81f685c3b1..278e917df6213af76dbd1131d7acc872416fbe30 100644
--- a/lib/std/mem.zig
+++ b/lib/std/mem.zig
@@ -748,6 +748,19 @@ test lessThan {
     try testing.expect(lessThan(u8, "", "a"));
 }
 
+/// Returns `true` if `lhs < rhs`; `false` otherwise, operating on null-terminated arrays.
+pub fn lessThanZ(comptime T: type, lhs: [*:0]const T, rhs: [*:0]const T) bool {
+    return orderZ(T, lhs, rhs) == .lt;
+}
+
+test lessThanZ {
+    try testing.expect(lessThanZ(u8, "abcd", "bee"));
+    try testing.expect(!lessThanZ(u8, "abc", "abc"));
+    try testing.expect(lessThanZ(u8, "abc", "abc0"));
+    try testing.expect(!lessThanZ(u8, "", ""));
+    try testing.expect(lessThanZ(u8, "", "a"));
+}
+
 const use_vectors = switch (builtin.zig_backend) {
     // These backends don't support vectors yet.
     .stage2_aarch64,