my $old_version = '1.4.10'; my $new_version = '1.6.0'; my @old_version = split /\./, $old_version; my @new_version = split /\./, $new_version; my $cmp = 0; $cmp ||= ($old_version[$_] <=> $new_version[$_]) for (0 .. $#old_version); if ($cmp == 0) { print "$old_version == $new_version\n"; } elsif ($cmp == 1) { print "$old_version > $new_version\n"; } else { print "$old_version < $new_version\n"; }