Comparison Operators (topic)

Syntax Expression1 [< | > | <= | >= | <> | =] expression2
Description Comparison operators return True or False depending on the operator.
Comments The comparison operators are listed in the following table:
Operator Returns True If
> expression1 is greater than expression2
< expression1 is less than expression2
<= expression1 is less than or equal to expression2
>= expression1 is greater than or equal to expression2
<> expression1 is not equal to expression2
= expression1 is equal to expression2
This operator behaves differently depending on the types of the expressions, as shown in the following table:
If one expression is and the other expression is   Then
Numeric Numeric A numeric comparison is performed (see below).
String String A string comparison is performed (see below).
Numeric String A compile error is generated.
Variant String A string comparison is performed (see below).
Variant Numeric A variant comparison is performed (see below).
Null variant Any data type Returns Null.
Variant Variant A variant comparison is performed (see below).
String Comparisons If the two expressions are strings, then the operator performs a text comparison between the two string expressions, returning True if expression1 is less than expression2. The text comparison is case-sensitive if Option Compare is Binary; otherwise, the comparison is case-insensitive. When comparing letters with regard to case, lowercase characters in a string sort greater than uppercase characters, so a comparison of "a" and "A" would indicate that "a" is greater than "A". Numeric Comparisons When comparing two numeric expressions, the less precise expression is converted to be the same type as the more precise expression. Dates are compared as doubles. This may produce unexpected results as it is possible to have two dates that, when viewed as text, display as the same date when, in fact, they are different. This can be seen in the following example: 
  Sub Main()
    Dim date1 As Date
    Dim date2 As Date
    date1 = Now
    date2 = date1 + 0.000001  'Adds a fraction of a second.
    MsgBox date2 = date1    'Prints False (the dates are different).
    MsgBox date1 & "," & date2    'Prints two dates that are the same.
  End Sub
Variant Comparisons When comparing variants, the actual operation performed is determined at execution time according to the following table:
If one variant is and the other variant is   Then
Numeric Numeric The variants are compared as numbers.
String String The variants are compared as text.
Numeric String The number is less than the string.
Null Any other data type Null
Numeric Empty The number is compared with 0.
String Empty The string is compared with a zero-length string.
Example 
Sub Main()
  'Tests two literals and displays the result.
  If 5 < 2 Then
    MsgBox "5 is less than 2."
  Else
    MsgBox "5 is not less than 2."
  End If
  'Tests two strings and displays the result.
  If "This" < "That" Then
    MsgBox "'This' is less than 'That'."
  Else
    MsgBox "'That' is less than 'This'."
  End If
End Sub
See Also Operator Precedence (topic); Is (operator); Like (operator); Option Compare (statement).