How to compare numbers in bash?

In bash, you should do your check in arithmetic context:

if (( a > b )); then
    ...
fi

For POSIX shells that don't support (()), you can use -lt and -gt.

if [ "$a" -gt "$b" ]; then
    ...
fi

You can get a full list of comparison operators with help test or man test.

Like this:

#!/bin/bash

a=2462620
b=2462620

if [ "$a" -eq "$b" ]; then
  echo "They're equal";
fi

Integers can be compared with these operators:

-eq # equal
-ne # not equal
-lt # less than
-le # less than or equal
-gt # greater than
-ge # greater than or equal

See this cheatsheet: https://devhints.io/bash#conditionals

There is also one nice thing some people might not know about:

echo $(( a < b ? a : b ))

This code will print the smallest number out of a and b

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