How to compare software version number using js? (only number)

The basic idea to make this comparison would be to use Array.split to get arrays of parts from the input strings and then compare pairs of parts from the two arrays; if the parts are not equal we know which version is smaller.

There are a few of important details to keep in mind:

1. How should the parts in each pair be compared? The question wants to compare numerically, but what if we have version strings that are not made up of just digits (e.g. "1.0a")?
2. What should happen if one version string has more parts than the other? Most likely "1.0" should be considered less than "1.0.1", but what about "1.0.0"?

Here's the code for an implementation that you can use directly (gist with documentation):

function versionCompare(v1, v2, options) {
    var lexicographical = options && options.lexicographical,
        zeroExtend = options && options.zeroExtend,
        v1parts = v1.split('.'),
        v2parts = v2.split('.');

    function isValidPart(x) {
        return (lexicographical ? /^\d+[A-Za-z]*$/ : /^\d+$/).test(x);
    }

    if (!v1parts.every(isValidPart) || !v2parts.every(isValidPart)) {
        return NaN;
    }

    if (zeroExtend) {
        while (v1parts.length < v2parts.length) v1parts.push("0");
        while (v2parts.length < v1parts.length) v2parts.push("0");
    }

    if (!lexicographical) {
        v1parts = v1parts.map(Number);
        v2parts = v2parts.map(Number);
    }

    for (var i = 0; i < v1parts.length; ++i) {
        if (v2parts.length == i) {
            return 1;
        }

        if (v1parts[i] == v2parts[i]) {
            continue;
        }
        else if (v1parts[i] > v2parts[i]) {
            return 1;
        }
        else {
            return -1;
        }
    }

    if (v1parts.length != v2parts.length) {
        return -1;
    }

    return 0;
}

This version compares parts naturally, does not accept character suffixes and considers "1.7" to be smaller than "1.7.0". The comparison mode can be changed to lexicographical and shorter version strings can be automatically zero-padded using the optional third argument.

There is a JSFiddle that runs "unit tests" here; it is a slightly expanded version of ripper234's work (thank you).

Important note: This code uses Array.map and Array.every, which means that it will not run in IE versions earlier than 9. If you need to support those you will have to provide polyfills for the missing methods.

semver

The semantic version parser used by npm.

$ npm install semver

var semver = require('semver');

semver.diff('3.4.5', '4.3.7') //'major'
semver.diff('3.4.5', '3.3.7') //'minor'
semver.gte('3.4.8', '3.4.7') //true
semver.ltr('3.4.8', '3.4.7') //false

semver.valid('1.2.3') // '1.2.3'
semver.valid('a.b.c') // null
semver.clean(' =v1.2.3 ') // '1.2.3'
semver.satisfies('1.2.3', '1.x || >=2.5.0 || 5.0.0 - 7.2.3') // true
semver.gt('1.2.3', '9.8.7') // false
semver.lt('1.2.3', '9.8.7') // true

var versions = [ '1.2.3', '3.4.5', '1.0.2' ]
var max = versions.sort(semver.rcompare)[0]
var min = versions.sort(semver.compare)[0]
var max = semver.maxSatisfying(versions, '*')

Semantic Versioning Link :
https://www.npmjs.com/package/semver#prerelease-identifiers

// Return 1 if a > b
// Return -1 if a < b
// Return 0 if a == b
function compare(a, b) {
    if (a === b) {
       return 0;
    }

    var a_components = a.split(".");
    var b_components = b.split(".");

    var len = Math.min(a_components.length, b_components.length);

    // loop while the components are equal
    for (var i = 0; i < len; i++) {
        // A bigger than B
        if (parseInt(a_components[i]) > parseInt(b_components[i])) {
            return 1;
        }

        // B bigger than A
        if (parseInt(a_components[i]) < parseInt(b_components[i])) {
            return -1;
        }
    }

    // If one's a prefix of the other, the longer one is greater.
    if (a_components.length > b_components.length) {
        return 1;
    }

    if (a_components.length < b_components.length) {
        return -1;
    }

    // Otherwise they are the same.
    return 0;
}

console.log(compare("1", "2"));
console.log(compare("2", "1"));

console.log(compare("1.0", "1.0"));
console.log(compare("2.0", "1.0"));
console.log(compare("1.0", "2.0"));
console.log(compare("1.0.1", "1.0"));