File: gawk.info,  Node: Typing and Comparison,  Next: Boolean Ops,  Prev: Truth Values,  Up: Truth_Values_and_Conditions.php">Truth Values and Conditions

6.3.2 Variable Typing and Comparison Expressions
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     The Guide is definitive.  Reality is frequently inaccurate.
      -- _Douglas Adams, 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'_

   Unlike in other programming languages, in 'awk' variables do not have
a fixed type.  Instead, they can be either a number or a string,
depending upon the value that is assigned to them.  We look now at how
variables are typed, and how 'awk' compares variables.

* Menu:

* Variable Typing::             String type versus numeric type.
* Comparison Operators::        The comparison operators.
* POSIX String Comparison::     String comparison with POSIX rules.