Comparing values

The ways that you can compare values depends on the types of those values.

Many types allow the usual comparison operators: =, !=, <, >, ≤ and ≥. The syntax depends on the language. Comparing values in this way produces a Boolean type that you can use in conditional instructions or to continue or terminate loops.

How values are compared depends on the type of the values:

nat, int, mutez and timestamp values are compared numerically.
Strings, bytes, key_hash, key, signature and chain_id values are compared lexicographically.
Boolean values are compared so that false is strictly less than true.
Address are compared as follows:
- Addresses of user accounts are strictly less than addresses of smart contracts.
- Addresses of the same type are compared lexicographically.
Pair values (and therefore records) are compared component by component, starting with the first component.
Options are compared as follows:
- None is strictly less than any Some.
- Some x and Some y are compared as x and y.
Values of union types built with or are compared as follows:
- any Left x is smaller than any Right y,
- Left x and Left y are compared as x and y,
- Right x and Right y are compared as x and y.
Values of type Unit are all equal.

In Michelson, comparisons are done in two steps:

A COMPARE instruction consumes the values and produces a value that is 0 if the two elements are equal, negative if the first element in the stack is less than the second, and positive otherwise.
The instructions EQ (equal), NEQ (not equal), LT (lower than), GT (greater than), LE (lower or equal) and GE (greater or equal) consume this value and return the corresponding Boolean value.

Implementation details​

Implementation details