How to compare two floating point numbers in Bash?

Question

I am trying hard to compare two floating point numbers within a bash script. I have to variables, e.g.

let num1=3.17648e-22
let num2=1.5

Now, I just want do a simple comparison of these two numbers:

st=`echo "$num1 < $num2" | bc`
if [ $st -eq 1]; then
  echo -e "$num1 < $num2"
else
  echo -e "$num1 >= $num2"
fi

Unfortunately, I have some problems with the right treatment of the num1 which can be of the "e-format". :(

Any help, hints are welcome!

Answer 1

I used the answers from here and put them in a function, you can use it like this:

is_first_floating_number_bigger 1.5 1.2
result="${__FUNCTION_RETURN}"

Once called, echo $result will be 1 in this case, otherwise 0.

The function:

is_first_floating_number_bigger () {
    number1="$1"
    number2="$2"

    [ ${number1%.*} -eq ${number2%.*} ] && [ ${number1#*.} \> ${number2#*.} ] || [ ${number1%.*} -gt ${number2%.*} ];
    result=$?
    if [ "$result" -eq 0 ]; then result=1; else result=0; fi

    __FUNCTION_RETURN="${result}"
}

Or a version with debug output:

is_first_floating_number_bigger () {
    number1="$1"
    number2="$2"

    echo "... is_first_floating_number_bigger: comparing ${number1} with ${number2} (to check if the first one is bigger)"

    [ ${number1%.*} -eq ${number2%.*} ] && [ ${number1#*.} \> ${number2#*.} ] || [ ${number1%.*} -gt ${number2%.*} ];
    result=$?
    if [ "$result" -eq 0 ]; then result=1; else result=0; fi

    echo "... is_first_floating_number_bigger: result is: ${result}"

    if [ "$result" -eq 0 ]; then
        echo "... is_first_floating_number_bigger: ${number1} is not bigger than ${number2}"
    else
        echo "... is_first_floating_number_bigger: ${number1} is bigger than ${number2}"
    fi

    __FUNCTION_RETURN="${result}"
}

Just save the function in a separated .sh file and include it like this:

. /path/to/the/new-file.sh

Answer 2

beware when comparing numbers that are package versions, like checking if grep 2.20 is greater than version 2.6:

$ awk 'BEGIN { print (2.20 >= 2.6) ? "YES" : "NO" }'
NO

$ awk 'BEGIN { print (2.2 >= 2.6) ? "YES" : "NO" }'
NO

$ awk 'BEGIN { print (2.60 == 2.6) ? "YES" : "NO" }'
YES

I solved such problem with such shell/awk function:

# get version of GNU tool
toolversion() {
    local prog="$1" operator="$2" value="$3" version

    version=$($prog --version | awk '{print $NF; exit}')

    awk -vv1="$version" -vv2="$value" 'BEGIN {
        split(v1, a, /\./); split(v2, b, /\./);
        if (a[1] == b[1]) {
            exit (a[2] '$operator' b[2]) ? 0 : 1
        }
        else {
            exit (a[1] '$operator' b[1]) ? 0 : 1
        }
    }'
}

if toolversion grep '>=' 2.6; then
   # do something awesome
fi

Answer 3

Use korn shell, in bash you may have to compare the decimal part separately

#!/bin/ksh
X=0.2
Y=0.2
echo $X
echo $Y

if [[ $X -lt $Y ]]
then
     echo "X is less than Y"
elif [[ $X -gt $Y ]]
then
     echo "X is greater than Y"
elif [[ $X -eq $Y ]]
then
     echo "X is equal to Y"
fi

Answer 4

awk and tools like it (I'm staring at you sed...) should be relegated to the dustbin of old projects, with code that everyone is too afraid to touch since it was written in a read-never language.

Or you're the relatively rare project that needs to prioritize CPU usage optimization over code maintenance optimization... in which case, carry on.

If not, though, why not instead just use something readable and explicit, such as python? Your fellow coders and future self will thank you. You can use python inline with bash just like all the others.

num1=3.17648E-22
num2=1.5
if python -c "import sys; sys.exit(0 if float($num1) < float($num2) else 1)"; then
    echo "yes, $num1 < $num2"
else
    echo "no, $num1 >= $num2"
fi

Answer 5

num1=0.555
num2=2.555


if [ `echo "$num1>$num2"|bc` -eq 1 ]; then
       echo "$num1 is greater then $num2"
else
       echo "$num2 is greater then $num1"
fi

Answer 6

Pure bash solution for comparing floats without exponential notation, leading or trailing zeros:

if [ ${FOO%.*} -eq ${BAR%.*} ] && [ ${FOO#*.} \> ${BAR#*.} ] || [ ${FOO%.*} -gt ${BAR%.*} ]; then
  echo "${FOO} > ${BAR}";
else
  echo "${FOO} <= ${BAR}";
fi

Order of logical operators matters. Integer parts are compared as numbers and fractional parts are intentionally compared as strings. Variables are split into integer and fractional parts using this method.

Won't compare floats with integers (without dot).