BASH - Version string compare

[tjones1105]

Hello,
I'm kinda new to using BASH and I would like to know how I can compare two version strings to see if they are Greater than, Less than or equal.

For example i have these two versions strings

a=10.1.0.53
b=10.1.2.8

Does anyone have an example or sample script on comparing these two version strings?

Thanks,
tom

[tpl]

if the version strings are in a file "file"

10.1.0.53
10.1.2.8

then

sort -nr <file |head -1

will give you the bigger, but

sort -n <file |head -1

the smaller