Thanks for the suggestion, Ken. -B > You can use the arithmetic expression operator - (( )) > > if (( $var < -4 )) ; then > .. > fi > On Sun, 2007-07-22 at 10:37 -0400, Dr. Brian J. Dowd wrote: >> The value of $var is -4.865876 >> >> if [ $var -lt "-4" ]; >> >> throws an "Integer expression expected" error <snip>