Less-than sign
Template:Short description Template:For Template:More references Template:Infobox symbol The less-than sign is a mathematical symbol that denotes an inequality between two values. The widely adopted form of two equal-length strokes connecting in an acute angle at the left, Template:Char, has been found in documents dated as far back as the 1560s. In mathematical writing, the less-than sign is typically placed between two values being compared and signifies that the first number is less than the second number. Examples of typical usage include Template:Math and Template:Math.
Since the development of computer programming languages, the less-than sign and the greater-than sign have been repurposed for a range of uses and operations.
Computing
The less-than sign, Template:Char, is an original ASCII character (hex 3C, decimal 60).
Programming
In BASIC, Lisp-family languages, and C-family languages (including Java and C++), comparison operator < means "less than".
In Coldfusion, operator .lt. means "less than".
In Fortran, operator .LT. means "less than"; later versions allow <.
Shell scripts
In Bourne shell (and many other shells), operator -lt means "less than". Less-than sign is used to redirect input from a file. Less-than plus ampersand (Template:Code) is used to redirect from a file descriptor.
Double less-than sign
The double less-than sign, Template:Char, may be used for an approximation of the much-less-than sign (Template:Char) or of the opening guillemet (Template:Char). ASCII does not encode either of these signs, though they are both included in Unicode.
In Bash, Perl, and Ruby, operator Template:Code (where "EOF" is an arbitrary string, but commonly "EOF" denoting "end of file") is used to denote the beginning of a here document.
In C and C++, operator Template:Code represents a binary left shift.
In the C++ Standard Library, operator Template:Code, when applied on an output stream, acts as insertion operator and performs an output operation on the stream.
In Ruby, operator Template:Code acts as append operator when used between an array and the value to be appended.
In XPath the Template:Code operator returns true if the left operand precedes the right operand in document order; otherwise it returns false.[1]
Triple less-than sign
In PHP, operator Template:Code is used to denote the beginning of a heredoc statement (where OUTPUT is an arbitrary named variable.)
In Bash, Template:Code is used as a "here string", where Template:Code is expanded and supplied to the command on its standard input, similar to a heredoc.
Less-than sign with equals sign
The less-than sign with the equals sign, Template:Code, may be used for an approximation of the less-than-or-equal-to sign, Template:Char. ASCII does not have a less-than-or-equal-to sign, but Unicode defines it at code point U+2264.
In BASIC, Lisp-family languages, and C-family languages (including Java and C++), operator Template:Code means "less than or equal to". In Sinclair BASIC it is encoded as a single-byte code point token.
In Prolog, Template:Code means "less than or equal to" (as distinct from the arrow Template:Code).
In Fortran, operators Template:Code and Template:Code both mean "less than or equal to".
In Bourne shell and Windows PowerShell, the operator Template:Code means "less than or equal to".
Less-than sign with hyphen-minus
In the R programming language, the less-than sign is used in conjunction with a hyphen-minus to create an arrow (Template:Code), this can be used as the left assignment operator.
Spaceship operator
The less-than sign is used in the spaceship operator.
HTML
In HTML (and SGML and XML), the less-than sign is used at the beginning of tags. The less-than sign may be included with <. The less-than-or-equal-to sign, Template:Char, may be included with ≤.
Unicode
Unicode provides various Less Than Symbols:[2]
| Symbol | Unicode name | Code Point |
|---|---|---|
| < | Template:Sc | U+003C |
| ≤ | Template:Sc | U+2264 |
| ≦ | Template:Sc | U+2266 |
| ≨ | Template:Sc | U+2268 |
| ≪ | Template:Sc | U+226A |
| ≮ | Template:Sc | U+226E |
| ≰ | Template:Sc | U+2270 |
| ≲ | Template:Sc | U+2272 |
| ≴ | Template:Sc | U+2274 |
| ⋖ | Template:Sc | U+22D6 |
| ⋘ | Template:Sc | U+22D8 |
| ⋜ | Template:Sc | U+22DC |
| ⋦ | Template:Sc | U+22E6 |
| ⍃ | Template:Sc | U+2343 |
| ⥶ | Template:Sc | U+2976 |
| ⥷ | Template:Sc | U+2977 |
| ⦓ | Template:Sc | U+2993 |
| ⦖ | Template:Sc | U+2996 |
| ⧀ | Template:Sc | U+29C0 |
| ⩹ | Template:Sc | U+2A79 |
| ⩻ | Template:Sc | U+2A7B |
| ⩽ | Template:Sc | U+2A7D |
| ⩿ | Template:Sc | U+2A7F |
| ⪁ | Template:Sc | U+2A81 |
| ⪃ | Template:Sc | U+2A83 |
| ⪅ | Template:Sc | U+2A85 |
| ⪇ | Template:Sc | U+2A87 |
| ⪉ | Template:Sc | U+2A89 |
| ⪍ | Template:Sc | U+2A8D |
| ⪕ | Template:Sc | U+2A95 |
| ⪗ | Template:Sc | U+2A97 |
| ⪙ | Template:Sc | U+2A99 |
| ⪛ | Template:Sc | U+2A9B |
| ⪝ | Template:Sc | U+2A9D |
| ⪟ | Template:Sc | U+2A9F |
| ⪡ | Template:Sc | U+2AA1 |
| ⪣ | Template:Sc | U+2AA3 |
| ⪦ | Template:Sc | U+2AA6 |
| ⪨ | Template:Sc | U+2AA8 |
| ⫷ | Template:Sc | U+2AF7 |
| ⫹ | Template:Sc | U+2AF9 |
| ﹤ | Template:Sc | U+FE64 |
| ＜ | Template:Sc | U+FF1C |
The less-than sign may be seen for an approximation of the opening angle bracket, Template:Char. True angle bracket characters, as required in linguistics notation, are expected in formal texts.
Mathematics
In an inequality, the less-than sign and greater-than sign always "point" to the smaller number. Put another way, the "jaws" (the wider section of the symbol) always direct to the larger number.
The less-than-sign is sometimes used to represent a total order, partial order or preorder. However, the symbol Template:Char is often used when it would be confusing or not convenient to use Template:Char. In mathematical writing using LaTeX, the TeX command is Template:Code. The Unicode code point is Template:Nobr.