如果你知道字段的数量，你可以用-k,n,n，得到一个超级简单的解

echo '2.4.5
2.8
2.4.5.1
2.10.2' | sort -t '.' -k 1,1 -k 2,2 -k 3,3 -k 4,4 -g

2.4.5
2.4.5.1
2.8
2.10.2

感谢Dennis的解决方案，我们可以扩展它以允许比较运算符'>'，'<'，'='，'=='，'<='和'>='。

# compver ver1 '=|==|>|<|>=|<=' ver2
compver() { 
    local op
    vercomp $1 $3
    case $? in
        0) op='=';;
        1) op='>';;
        2) op='<';;
    esac
    [[ $2 == *$op* ]] && return 0 || return 1
}

然后我们可以在表达式中使用比较运算符，比如:

compver 1.7 '<=' 1.8
compver 1.7 '==' 1.7
compver 1.7 '=' 1.7

并且只测试结果的真/假，比如:

if compver $ver1 '>' $ver2; then
    echo "Newer"
fi

另一种方法(@joynes的修改版本)比较问题中问到的虚线版本 (即“1.2”、“2.3.4”、“1.0”、“1.10.1”等)。 最大数量的位置必须事先知道。该方法期望最多3个版本位置。

expr $(printf "$1\n$2" | sort -t '.' -k 1,1 -k 2,2 -k 3,3 -g | sed -n 2p) != $2

使用示例:

expr $(printf "1.10.1\n1.7" | sort -t '.' -k 1,1 -k 2,2 -k 3,3 -g | sed -n 2p) != "1.7"

返回:1，因为1.10.1大于1.7

expr $(printf "1.10.1\n1.11" | sort -t '.' -k 1,1 -k 2,2 -k 3,3 -g | sed -n 2p) != "1.11"

返回:0，因为1.10.1比1.11低

$ for OVFTOOL_VERSION in "4.2.0" "4.2.1" "5.2.0" "3.2.0" "4.1.9" "4.0.1" "4.3.0" "4.5.0" "4.2.1" "30.1.0" "4" "5" "4.1" "4.3"
> do
>   if [ $(echo "$OVFTOOL_VERSION 4.2.0" | tr " " "\n" | sort --version-sort | head -n 1) = 4.2.0 ]; then 
>     echo "$OVFTOOL_VERSION is >= 4.2.0"; 
>   else 
>     echo "$OVFTOOL_VERSION is < 4.2.0"; 
>   fi
> done
4.2.0 is >= 4.2.0
4.2.1 is >= 4.2.0
5.2.0 is >= 4.2.0
3.2.0 is < 4.2.0
4.1.9 is < 4.2.0
4.0.1 is < 4.2.0
4.3.0 is >= 4.2.0
4.5.0 is >= 4.2.0
4.2.1 is >= 4.2.0
30.1.0 is >= 4.2.0
4 is < 4.2.0
5 is >= 4.2.0
4.1 is < 4.2.0
4.3 is >= 4.2.0

下面是一个不使用外部命令的简单Bash函数。它适用于包含最多三个数字部分的版本字符串-小于3也是可以的。它可以很容易地扩展为更多。它实现了=、<、<=、>、>=和!=条件。

#!/bin/bash
vercmp() {
    version1=$1 version2=$2 condition=$3

    IFS=. v1_array=($version1) v2_array=($version2)
    v1=$((v1_array[0] * 100 + v1_array[1] * 10 + v1_array[2]))
    v2=$((v2_array[0] * 100 + v2_array[1] * 10 + v2_array[2]))
    diff=$((v2 - v1))
    [[ $condition = '='  ]] && ((diff == 0)) && return 0
    [[ $condition = '!=' ]] && ((diff != 0)) && return 0
    [[ $condition = '<'  ]] && ((diff >  0)) && return 0
    [[ $condition = '<=' ]] && ((diff >= 0)) && return 0
    [[ $condition = '>'  ]] && ((diff <  0)) && return 0
    [[ $condition = '>=' ]] && ((diff <= 0)) && return 0
    return 1
}

下面是测试:

for tv1 in '*' 1.1.1 2.5.3 7.3.0 0.5.7 10.3.9 8.55.32 0.0.1; do
    for tv2 in 3.1.1 1.5.3 4.3.0 0.0.7 0.3.9 11.55.32 10.0.0 '*'; do
      for c in '=' '>' '<' '>=' '<=' '!='; do
        vercmp "$tv1" "$tv2" "$c" && printf '%s\n' "$tv1 $c $tv2 is true" || printf '%s\n' "$tv1 $c $tv2 is false"
      done
    done
done

测试输出的子集:

<snip>

* >= * is true
* <= * is true
* != * is true
1.1.1 = 3.1.1 is false
1.1.1 > 3.1.1 is false
1.1.1 < 3.1.1 is true
1.1.1 >= 3.1.1 is false
1.1.1 <= 3.1.1 is true
1.1.1 != 3.1.1 is true
1.1.1 = 1.5.3 is false
1.1.1 > 1.5.3 is false
1.1.1 < 1.5.3 is true
1.1.1 >= 1.5.3 is false
1.1.1 <= 1.5.3 is true
1.1.1 != 1.5.3 is true
1.1.1 = 4.3.0 is false
1.1.1 > 4.3.0 is false

<snip>

下面是对顶部答案(Dennis的)的改进，它更简洁，并使用了不同的返回值方案，以便通过单个比较轻松实现<=和>=。它还比较不是[0-9]的第一个字符之后的所有内容。]因此1.0rc1 < 1.0rc2。

# Compares two tuple-based, dot-delimited version numbers a and b (possibly
# with arbitrary string suffixes). Returns:
# 1 if a<b
# 2 if equal
# 3 if a>b
# Everything after the first character not in [0-9.] is compared
# lexicographically using ASCII ordering if the tuple-based versions are equal.
compare_versions() {
    if [[ $1 == "$2" ]]; then
        return 2
    fi
    local IFS=.
    local i a=(${1%%[^0-9.]*}) b=(${2%%[^0-9.]*})
    local arem=${1#${1%%[^0-9.]*}} brem=${2#${2%%[^0-9.]*}}
    for ((i=0; i<${#a[@]} || i<${#b[@]}; i++)); do
        if ((10#${a[i]:-0} < 10#${b[i]:-0})); then
            return 1
        elif ((10#${a[i]:-0} > 10#${b[i]:-0})); then
            return 3
        fi
    done
    if [ "$arem" '<' "$brem" ]; then
        return 1
    elif [ "$arem" '>' "$brem" ]; then
        return 3
    fi
    return 2
}

为了解决@gammazero的评论，一个(我认为)与语义版本兼容的更长的版本是:

# Compares two dot-delimited decimal-element version numbers a and b that may
# also have arbitrary string suffixes. Compatible with semantic versioning, but
# not as strict: comparisons of non-semver strings may have unexpected
# behavior.
#
# Returns:
# 1 if a<b
# 2 if equal
# 3 if a>b
compare_versions() {
    local LC_ALL=C

    # Optimization
    if [[ $1 == "$2" ]]; then
        return 2
    fi

    # Compare numeric release versions. Supports an arbitrary number of numeric
    # elements (i.e., not just X.Y.Z) in which unspecified indices are regarded
    # as 0.
    local aver=${1%%[^0-9.]*} bver=${2%%[^0-9.]*}
    local arem=${1#$aver} brem=${2#$bver}
    local IFS=.
    local i a=($aver) b=($bver)
    for ((i=0; i<${#a[@]} || i<${#b[@]}; i++)); do
        if ((10#${a[i]:-0} < 10#${b[i]:-0})); then
            return 1
        elif ((10#${a[i]:-0} > 10#${b[i]:-0})); then
            return 3
        fi
    done

    # Remove build metadata before remaining comparison
    arem=${arem%%+*}
    brem=${brem%%+*}

    # Prelease (w/remainder) always older than release (no remainder)
    if [ -n "$arem" -a -z "$brem" ]; then
        return 1
    elif [ -z "$arem" -a -n "$brem" ]; then
        return 3
    fi

    # Otherwise, split by periods and compare individual elements either
    # numerically or lexicographically
    local a=(${arem#-}) b=(${brem#-})
    for ((i=0; i<${#a[@]} && i<${#b[@]}; i++)); do
        local anns=${a[i]#${a[i]%%[^0-9]*}} bnns=${b[i]#${b[i]%%[^0-9]*}}
        if [ -z "$anns$bnns" ]; then
            # Both numeric
            if ((10#${a[i]:-0} < 10#${b[i]:-0})); then
                return 1
            elif ((10#${a[i]:-0} > 10#${b[i]:-0})); then
                return 3
            fi
        elif [ -z "$anns" ]; then
            # Numeric comes before non-numeric
            return 1
        elif [ -z "$bnns" ]; then
            # Numeric comes before non-numeric
            return 3
        else
            # Compare lexicographically
            if [[ ${a[i]} < ${b[i]} ]]; then
                return 1
            elif [[ ${a[i]} > ${b[i]} ]]; then
                return 3
            fi
        fi
    done

    # Fewer elements is earlier
    if (( ${#a[@]} < ${#b[@]} )); then
        return 1
    elif (( ${#a[@]} > ${#b[@]} )); then
        return 3
    fi

    # Must be equal!
    return 2
}