How can I compare numbers in Bash?

In Bash, you should do your check in an arithmetic context:

if (( a > b )); then    ...fi

For POSIX shells that don't support (()), you can use -lt and -gt.

if [ "$a" -gt "$b" ]; then    ...fi

You can get a full list of comparison operators with help test or man test.

bash shell numeric

Like this:

#!/bin/basha=2462620b=2462620if [ "$a" -eq "$b" ]; then  echo "They're equal";fi

Integers can be compared with these operators:

-eq # Equal-ne # Not equal-lt # Less than-le # Less than or equal-gt # Greater than-ge # Greater than or equal

bash shell numeric

There is also one nice thing some people might not know about:

echo $(( a < b ? a : b ))

This code will print the smallest number out of a and b

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