if statement comparing two digit value against single digit value

[Laura Johnson_1]

Okay, this to me sounds like a rediculous question, but i am writing a script using if statements. I define the variable at the top and then "if [[ $TEST > 5 ]]... The script runs but if the value compared against 5 is two-digits (20 for example) or more, it says the value is not greater than 5. Now I know I can preceed the 5 with 000s as place-holders, but again if the the value exceeds the number of place holders, same issue. Is there another way?
Thanks
-Laura

[A. Clay Stephenson]

if [[ ${TEST} -gt 5 ]]

will fix you. You are doing a numeric comparision with -ge, -gt, -lt, -le, -eq, and '-ne' otherwise you are doing a LEXICAL comparison.

[Laura Johnson_1]

putting the () around the variable returns "not found" when running set -x, unless i have missed something.

TEST: not found
+ [[ -gt 5 ]]

[Laura Johnson_1]

never mind, those are curly brackets. my laptop resolution is horrible. It's an IBM, ha ha ha.

[Robert Bennett_3]

I use this for reference:

Testing Numeric Values
n1 -eq n2 --n1 equals n2
n1 -ge n2 --n1 is greater than or equal to n2
n1 -gt n2 --n1 is greater than n2
n1 -le n2 --n1 is less than or equal to n2
n1 -lt n2 --n1 is less than n2
n1 -ne n2 --n1 does not equal n2

String Conditions
-n s1 --string s1 has non-zero length
-z s1 --string s1 has zero length
s1 = s2 --strings s1 and s2 are identical. In Korn shell, s2 can be a regular expression.
s1 != s2 --strings s1 and s2 are not identical. In Korn shell, s2 can be a regular expression
s1 < s2 --ASCII value of s1 precedes that of s2 (valid only within [[]] construct) (K)
s1 > s2 --ASCII value of s1 follows that of s2 (valid only within [[]] construct) (K)

[Laura Johnson_1]

Clay-
That was it. Thank you. I knew it was something so simple. I appreciate your very prompt response on this.
-Laura

[Laura Johnson_1]

Robert-
Thanks for that. I will copy that down to my laptop and keep it for reference.
-Laura