How to compare floats in bash

If you need to compare floats in bash, I suggest to use a system call to bc, and then check result. Below is a simple sample:

#/bin/bash

LIMIT=75.5
CPU_LOAD=`ps aux | awk '{s +=$3}; END {print s}'`
HOT=`echo "$CPU_LOAD > $LIMIT" | bc`
if [ "$HOT" -eq "1" ]; then
  echo "Oh, $CPU_LOAD%! My pants on fire!"
  exit 1;
else
  echo "Keep cool dude..., it's only $CPU_LOAD%"
fi

Note: first I thought to use expr, but seems it’s buggy. Check it yourself:

$ expr 36.25 \> 5

Mine says result is false. Weird…