# < (less than)

#### Availability

Flash Player 4; Flash Player 5. In Flash 5, the `<` (less than) operator is a comparison operator capable of handling various data types. In Flash 4, `<` is an numeric operator. Flash 4 files brought into the Flash 5 authoring environment undergo a conversion process to maintain data type integrity. The following illustrates the conversion of a Flash 4 file containing a numeric quality comparison.

Flash 4 file:

    x < y

Converted Flash 5 file:

    Number(x) < Number(y)

#### Usage

    expression1 < expression2

#### Parameters

`expression1,expression2` A number or string.

#### Description

Operator (comparison); compares two expressions and determines whether `expression1` is less than `expression2`; if so, the operator returns `true`. If `expression1` is greater than or equal to `expression2`, the operator returns `false`. String expressions are evaluated using alphabetical order; all capital letters come before lowercase letters.

#### Example

The following examples illustrate `true` and `false` returns for both numeric and string comparisons.

    3 < 10;
    // true

    10 < 3;
    // false

    "Allen" < "Jack";
    // true

    "Jack" < "Allen";
    // false

    "11" < "3";
    //true

    "11" < 3;
    // numeric comparison
    // false

    "C" < "abc";
    // false

    "A" < "a";
    // true