Interview › Scripting (Bash, Groovy)
What is the difference between -eq and = in test conditions? [Basic]
Answer
-eq is for numeric equality in test expressions, while = compares strings. For numbers, I normally use (( a == b )); for strings, I use [[ $a == $b ]].
Technical explanation
Using = for numbers performs string comparison, which may not match numeric intent in more complex comparisons.
Operators such as -lt, -le, -gt, and -ge are numeric test operators for [ ] and [[ ]].
Inside (( )), use C-style operators: ==, !=, <, <=, >, >=.
Hands-on example
a=10b=10[[ "$a" = "$b" ]] && echo "same string"[[ "$a" -eq "$b" ]] && echo "same number"(( a == b )) && echo "same number using arithmetic context
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