Relational operators are supplied which return the Boolean values true or false (or equivalent logical values for matrices).

== equal to

~= not equal to

< less than

> greater than

<= less than or equal to

>= greater than or equal to

Examples:

   > print(1 == 1, 1 == 0)

   true    false

   > print(1 ~= 1, 1 ~= 0)

   false   true

   > print(2 < 7, 2 > 7)

   true    false

   > print(3 <= 7, 7 <= 7, 8 <= 7)

   true    true    false

   > print(3 >= 7, 7 >= 7, 8 >= 7)

   false   true    true

These also work on strings and other types.

   > print("abc" < "def")

   true

   > print("abc" > "def")

   false

   > print("abc" == "abc")

   true

   > print("abc" == "a"+"bc")

   true

Objects are not equal if the types are different or refer to different objects.

   > print({} == "table")

   false

   > print({} == {})  // two different tables are created here

   false

   > t = {}

   > t2 = t

   > print(t == t2)   // we're referencing the same table here

   true

Coercion does not work here - the types must be converted explicitly.  See the Coercion topic for more information.

   > print("10" == 10)

   false

   > print(tonumber("10") == 10)

   true

For the matrix data type, the operation is performed on an element-by-element basis and a matrix of Boolean is returned.

   > A = [1,2]; B = [1,3]

   > print(A == B)

   [Matrix] 1 x 2

            1   0

   > print(A ~= B)

   [Matrix] 1 x 2

            0   1