#!/usr/bin/perl $a = shift; $b = shift; #for intergers only if ($a =~ /^\d+$/ && $b =~ /^\d+$/) { printf "$a == $b (%s)\n", $a == $b ? "yes" : "no"; } else { printf "$a eq $b (%s)\n", $a eq $b ? "yes" : "no"; } #or for floating point numbers if ($a =~ /^\d+(\.\d?)?$/ && $b =~ /^\d+(\.\d?)$/) { printf "$a == $b (%s)\n", $a == $b ? "yes" : "no"; } else { printf "$a eq $b (%s)\n", $a eq $b ? "yes" : "no"; }