Comparison Operators

Part of the Fundamentals section of Coddy's PHP journey — lesson 23 of 71.

Comparison operators let you compare two values and get a boolean result: true or false. These operators are essential for making decisions in your code.

PHP provides several comparison operators for checking relationships between values:

Operator	Meaning	Example	Result
`<`	Less than	`5 < 10`	`true`
`>`	Greater than	`5 > 10`	`false`
`<=`	Less than or equal	`5 <= 5`	`true`
`>=`	Greater than or equal	`10 >= 5`	`true`

<?php
$age = 18;
$isAdult = $age >= 18;    // true
$isMinor = $age < 18;     // false

$score = 75;
$passed = $score >= 60;   // true
?>

To see the result of a comparison, you can use var_dump() which displays both the type and value. Note that var_dump() automatically adds a new line after each call, so you don't need to add one manually:

<?php
var_dump(10 > 5);   // Outputs: bool(true)
var_dump(3 >= 7);   // Outputs: bool(false)
?>

Each var_dump() call prints its result on its own line automatically, so calling it multiple times will produce neatly separated output with no extra code needed.

These operators work with numbers and strings alike. In the next lesson, you'll learn about equality operators for checking if values are equal or identical.

Challenge

Easy

Read two numbers from input: a score and a passingMark.

Use comparison operators to evaluate the following conditions and print the result of each using var_dump(), each on a new line:

Check if score is greater than passingMark
Check if score is less than passingMark
Check if score is greater than or equal to passingMark
Check if score is less than or equal to passingMark

Example:

If the inputs are 75 and 60, the output should be:

bool(true)
bool(false)
bool(true)
bool(false)

Explanation:

75 > 60 is true
75 < 60 is false
75 >= 60 is true
75 <= 60 is false

Cheat sheet

Comparison operators compare two values and return true or false.

Operator	Meaning	Example	Result
`<`	Less than	`5 < 10`	`true`
`>`	Greater than	`5 > 10`	`false`
`<=`	Less than or equal	`5 <= 5`	`true`
`>=`	Greater than or equal	`10 >= 5`	`true`

Use var_dump() to display the type and value of a comparison result:

<?php
var_dump(10 > 5);   // Outputs: bool(true)
var_dump(3 >= 7);   // Outputs: bool(false)
?>

Try it yourself

<?php
// Read input
$score = intval(fgets(STDIN));
$passingMark = intval(fgets(STDIN));

// TODO: Write your code below
// Use comparison operators and var_dump() to check:
// 1. If score is greater than passingMark
// 2. If score is less than passingMark
// 3. If score is greater than or equal to passingMark
// 4. If score is less than or equal to passingMark

?>

Test yourself

This lesson includes a short quiz. Start the lesson to answer it and track your progress.

All lessons in Fundamentals

1Introduction to PHP

The PHP Language Hello World!Tags and Statements Comments The new line

4Comparison & Logical Operators

Comparison OperatorsEquality & Identity Logical Operators Part 1 Logical Operators Part 2 Recap - Simple Logic

7Arrays Part 2 - Associative

Intro to Associative Arrays Accessing Values by Key Modifying Values by Key Adding New Key-Value Pairs Check if Key Exists Recap - Key-Value Data Store

10Functions

Declaring & Calling Functions Function Parameters Returning Values Default Parameter Values Type Declarations for Params Return Type Declarations Variable Scope Recap - Creating Reusable Code