(standard_in) 1: syntax error, comparing floating point no using bc in bash

Asked Feb 23 '17 at 11:41

Active Feb 23 '17 at 11:41

Viewed 81 times

I am trying to compare two decimal values in shell script but somehow this is not working

When attempted for below values, it works

# echo "3.2 < 3.3" | bc
1

So here the command works. but

# echo "3.2.1 < 3.3.1" | bc
(standard_in) 1: syntax error
(standard_in) 1: syntax error

So if I have a decimal value with two points, bc fails

Is there any way this can be worked out? I am open to use any other interpreter if it fixes both the above scenarios

asked Feb 23 '17 at 11:41

user55342

2

`3.2.1` is not a valid floating point number. – Tom Fenech Feb 23 '17 at 11:42
a=3.4.1 b=3.3.1; [[ $(echo -e "$a\n$b" | sort | head -1) == "$a" ]] && true ||false; echo $? – Ali Okan Yüksel Feb 23 '17 at 11:59
`sort` without `-V` flag fails for cases like `a=1.2.1 b=1.10.1;` – thanasisp Feb 23 '17 at 15:05

0 Answers0