Bicep comparison operators

Article
06/23/2023

The comparison operators compare values and return either true or false. To run the examples, use Azure CLI or Azure PowerShell to deploy a Bicep file.

Operator	Name
`>=`	Greater than or equal
`>`	Greater than
`<=`	Less than or equal
`<`	Less than
`==`	Equals
`!=`	Not equal
`=~`	Equal case-insensitive
`!~`	Not equal case-insensitive

Greater than or equal >=

operand1 >= operand2

Evaluates if the first value is greater than or equal to the second value.

Operands

Operand	Type	Description
`operand1`	integer, string	First value in the comparison.
`operand2`	integer, string	Second value in the comparison.

Return value

If the first value is greater than or equal to the second value, true is returned. Otherwise, false is returned.

Example

A pair of integers and pair of strings are compared.

param firstInt int = 10
param secondInt int = 5

param firstString string = 'A'
param secondString string = 'A'

output intGtE bool = firstInt >= secondInt
output stringGtE bool = firstString >= secondString

Output from the example:

Name	Type	Value
`intGtE`	boolean	true
`stringGtE`	boolean	true

Greater than >

operand1 > operand2

Evaluates if the first value is greater than the second value.

Operands

Operand	Type	Description
`operand1`	integer, string	First value in the comparison.
`operand2`	integer, string	Second value in the comparison.

Return value

If the first value is greater than the second value, true is returned. Otherwise, false is returned.

Example

A pair of integers and pair of strings are compared.

param firstInt int = 10
param secondInt int = 5

param firstString string = 'bend'
param secondString string = 'band'

output intGt bool = firstInt > secondInt
output stringGt bool = firstString > secondString

Output from the example:

The e in bend makes the first string greater.

Name	Type	Value
`intGt`	boolean	true
`stringGt`	boolean	true

Less than or equal <=

operand1 <= operand2

Evaluates if the first value is less than or equal to the second value.

Operands

Operand	Type	Description
`operand1`	integer, string	First value in the comparison.
`operand2`	integer, string	Second value in the comparison.

Return value

If the first value is less than or equal to the second value, true is returned. Otherwise, false is returned.

Example

A pair of integers and pair of strings are compared.

param firstInt int = 5
param secondInt int = 10

param firstString string = 'demo'
param secondString string = 'demo'

output intLtE bool = firstInt <= secondInt
output stringLtE bool = firstString <= secondString

Output from the example:

Name	Type	Value
`intLtE`	boolean	true
`stringLtE`	boolean	true

Less than <

operand1 < operand2

Evaluates if the first value is less than the second value.

Operands

Operand	Type	Description
`operand1`	integer, string	First value in the comparison.
`operand2`	integer, string	Second value in the comparison.

Return value

If the first value is less than the second value, true is returned. Otherwise, false is returned.

Example

A pair of integers and pair of strings are compared.

param firstInt int = 5
param secondInt int = 10

param firstString string = 'demo'
param secondString string = 'Demo'

output intLt bool = firstInt < secondInt
output stringLt bool = firstString < secondString

Output from the example:

The string is true because lowercase letters are less than uppercase letters.

Name	Type	Value
`intLt`	boolean	true
`stringLt`	boolean	true

Equals ==

operand1 == operand2

Evaluates if the values are equal. The comparison is case-sensitive.

Operands

Operand	Type	Description
`operand1`	string, integer, boolean, array, object	First value in the comparison.
`operand2`	string, integer, boolean, array, object	Second value in the comparison.

Return value

If the operands are equal, true is returned. If the operands are different, false is returned.

Example

Pairs of integers, strings, and booleans are compared.

param firstInt int = 5
param secondInt int = 5

param firstString string = 'demo'
param secondString string = 'Demo'

param firstBool bool = true
param secondBool bool = true

output intEqual bool = firstInt == secondInt
output stringEqual bool = firstString == secondString
output boolEqual bool = firstBool == secondBool

Output from the example:

Name	Type	Value	Note
`intEqual`	boolean	true
`stringEqual`	boolean	false	The result is `false` because the comparison is case-sensitive.
`boolEqual`	boolean	true

When comparing arrays, the two arrays must have the same elements and order. The arrays don't need to be assigned to each other.

var array1 = [
  1
  2
  3
]

var array2 = [
  1
  2
  3
]

var array3 = array2

var array4 = [
  3
  2
  1
]

output sameElements bool = array1 == array2 // returns true because arrays are defined with same elements
output assignArray bool = array2 == array3 // returns true because one array was defined as equal to the other array
output differentOrder bool = array4 == array1 // returns false because order of elements is different

Output from the example:

Name	Type	Value
sameElements	bool	true
assignArray	bool	true
differentOrder	bool	false

When comparing objects, the property names and values must be the same. The properties don't need to be defined in the same order.

var object1 = {
  prop1: 'val1'
  prop2: 'val2'
}

var object2 = {
  prop1: 'val1'
  prop2: 'val2'
}

var object3 = {
  prop2: 'val2'
  prop1: 'val1'
}

var object4 = object3

var object5 = {
  prop1: 'valX'
  prop2: 'valY'
}

output sameObjects bool = object1 == object2 // returns true because both objects defined with same properties
output differentPropertyOrder bool = object3 == object2 // returns true because both objects have same properties even though order is different
output assignObject bool = object4 == object1 // returns true because one object was defined as equal to the other object
output differentValues bool = object5 == object1 // returns false because values are different

Output from the example:

Name	Type	Value
sameObjects	bool	true
differentPropertyOrder	bool	true
assignObject	bool	true
differentValues	bool	false

Not equal !=

operand1 != operand2

Evaluates if two values are not equal.

Operands

Operand	Type	Description
`operand1`	string, integer, boolean, array, object	First value in the comparison.
`operand2`	string, integer, boolean, array, object	Second value in the comparison.

Return value

If the operands are not equal, true is returned. If the operands are equal, false is returned.

Example

Pairs of integers, strings, and booleans are compared.

param firstInt int = 10
param secondInt int = 5

param firstString string = 'demo'
param secondString string = 'test'

param firstBool bool = false
param secondBool bool = true

output intNotEqual bool = firstInt != secondInt
output stringNotEqual bool = firstString != secondString
output boolNotEqual bool = firstBool != secondBool

Output from the example:

Name	Type	Value
`intNotEqual`	boolean	true
`stringNotEqual`	boolean	true
`boolNotEqual`	boolean	true

For arrays and objects, see examples in equals.

Equal case-insensitive =~

operand1 =~ operand2

Ignores case to determine if the two values are equal.

Operands

Operand	Type	Description
`operand1`	string	First string in the comparison.
`operand2`	string	Second string in the comparison.

Return value

If the strings are equal, true is returned. Otherwise, false is returned.

Example

Compares strings that use mixed-case letters.

param firstString string = 'demo'
param secondString string = 'DEMO'

param thirdString string = 'demo'
param fourthString string = 'TEST'

output strEqual1 bool = firstString =~ secondString
output strEqual2 bool = thirdString =~ fourthString

Output from the example:

Name	Type	Value
`strEqual1`	boolean	true
`strEqual2`	boolean	false

Not equal case-insensitive !~

operand1 !~ operand2

Ignores case to determine if the two values are not equal.

Operands

Operand	Type	Description
`operand1`	string	First string in the comparison.
`operand2`	string	Second string in the comparison.

Return value

If the strings are not equal, true is returned. Otherwise, false is returned.

Example

Compares strings that use mixed-case letters.

param firstString string = 'demo'
param secondString string = 'TEST'

param thirdString string = 'demo'
param fourthString string = 'DeMo'

output strNotEqual1 bool = firstString !~ secondString
output strEqual2 bool = thirdString !~ fourthString

Output from the example:

Name	Type	Value
`strNotEqual1`	boolean	true
`strNotEqual2`	boolean	false

Next steps

To create a Bicep file, see Quickstart: Create Bicep files with Visual Studio Code.
For information about how to resolve Bicep type errors, see Any function for Bicep.
To compare syntax for Bicep and JSON, see Comparing JSON and Bicep for templates.
For examples of Bicep functions, see Bicep functions.

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Bicep comparison operators

Greater than or equal >=

Operands

Return value

Example

Greater than >

Operands

Return value

Example

Less than or equal <=

Operands

Return value

Example

Less than <

Operands

Return value

Example

Equals ==

Operands

Return value

Example

Not equal !=

Operands

Return value

Example

Equal case-insensitive =~

Operands

Return value

Example

Not equal case-insensitive !~

Operands

Return value

Example

Next steps

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