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P4 CLI Documentation | 2026.1

# Using comparison operators

The following comparison operators are available: `=`, `>`, `<`, `>=`, `<=`, and `^` for Boolean NOT.

The behavior of these operators depends upon the type of the field in the expression. The following table describes the field types and how they can be searched:

Field Type | Description | Notes
--- | --- | ---
`word` | A single word | The equality operator (`=`) matches the value in the word field exactly. The relational operators perform comparisons in ASCII order.
`text` | A block of text entered on the lines beneath the field name. | The equality operator (`=`) matches the job if the value is found anywhere in the specified field. The relational operators are of limited use here, because they’ll match the job if any word in the specified field matches the provided value. For example, if a job has a text field `ShortDescription:` that contains only the phrase `gui bug`, and the expression is `'ShortDesc<filter'`, the job will match the expression, because `bug<filter`.
`line` | A single line of text entered on the same line as the field name. | Same as text.
`select` | One of a set of values. For example, job status can be `open`, `suspended`, or `closed`. | The equality operator (`=`) matches a job if the value in the field is the specified word. Relational operators perform comparisons in ASCII order.
`date` | A date and optionally a time. For example, `2011/07/15:13:21:40`. | Dates are matched chronologically. If a time is not specified, the operators `=`, `<=`, and `>=` match the whole day.
`bulk` | Like `text`, but not indexed for searching. | These fields are not searchable with `p4 jobs -e`.

If you’re not sure of a field’s type, issue the `p4 jobspec -o command`, which displays your job specification. The field called `Fields:` lists the job fields' names and data types.

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