How to compare two strings in dot separated version format in Bash?

Question

Is there any way to compare such strings on bash, e.g.: 2.4.5 and 2.8 and 2.4.5.1?

Answer 1

function version_compare () {
  function sub_ver () {
    local len=${#1}
    temp=${1%%"."*} && indexOf=`echo ${1%%"."*} | echo ${#temp}`
    echo -e "${1:0:indexOf}"
  }
  function cut_dot () {
    local offset=${#1}
    local length=${#2}
    echo -e "${2:((++offset)):length}"
  }
  if [ -z "$1" ] || [ -z "$2" ]; then
    echo "=" && exit 0
  fi
  local v1=`echo -e "${1}" | tr -d '[[:space:]]'`
  local v2=`echo -e "${2}" | tr -d '[[:space:]]'`
  local v1_sub=`sub_ver $v1`
  local v2_sub=`sub_ver $v2`
  if (( v1_sub > v2_sub )); then
    echo ">"
  elif (( v1_sub < v2_sub )); then
    echo "<"
  else
    version_compare `cut_dot $v1_sub $v1` `cut_dot $v2_sub $v2`
  fi
}

### Usage:

version_compare "1.2.3" "1.2.4"
# Output: <

Credit goes to @Shellman