[gentoo-user] 69.99 != 69.99

[hw]

Hi,

I have the following in a perl script:


       if ($a != $b) {
         print "e: '$a', t: '$b'\n";
       }


That will print:

e: '69.99', t: '69.99'


When I replace != with ne (if ($a ne $a) {), it doesn't print.


Is that a bug or a feature?  And if it's a feature, what's the explanation?

And how do you deal with comparisions of variables when you get randomly 
either correct results or wrong ones?  It's randomly because this 
statement checks multiple values in the script, and 69.99 is the only 
number showing up yet which isn't numerically equal to itself (but equal 
to itself when compared as strings).