Relational Operators
Perl has two classes of relational operators. One class operates on numeric values, the other on string values, as shown in Table 3-5.
Table 3.5. Relational Operators
| Numeric | String | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
>
| gt
| Greater than |
>=
| ge
| Greater than or equal to |
<
| lt
| Less than |
<=
| le
| Less than or equal to |
These operators return for true and "" for false. Note that relational operators are nonassociating, which means that $a < $b < $c is a syntax error.
In the absence of locale declarations, string comparisons are based on the ASCII/Unicode collating sequences, and, unlike in some computer languages, trailing spaces count in the comparison. With a locale declaration, the collation order specified by the locale is used. (Locale-based collation mechanisms may or may not interact well with the Unicode collation mechanisms currently in development.)