@staticmethod<EOL><INDENT>def _compare_uids(uid1, uid2):<DEDENT>
sum = <NUM_LIT:0><EOL>for char1, char2 in zip(uid1, uid2):<EOL><INDENT>if char1 == char2:<EOL><INDENT>sum += <NUM_LIT:1><EOL><DEDENT>else:<EOL><INDENT>break<EOL><DEDENT><DEDENT>return sum<EOL>
Calculate the minimum length of initial substrings of uid1 and uid2
        for them to be different.

        :param uid1: first uid to compare
        :type uid1: str
        :param uid2: second uid to compare
        :type uid2: str
        :returns: the length of the shortes unequal initial substrings
        :rtype: int