Compare two SemVer versions

Compare two semantic versions using SemVer 2.0 precedence.

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ToolSemVer Comparator
Input
Output
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How it works

Major, minor, and patch numbers are compared numerically; prerelease identifiers sort before the release and compare numeric identifiers numerically but other identifiers lexically. Build metadata after a plus sign is ignored for precedence.

  • SemVer 2.0.0 defines repeatable ordering for release automation.
  • Prerelease and build components remain visible even when they do not increase precedence.

Worked example

A minor version bump
1.10.0 is newer than 1.2.3 because minor version comparison is numeric, not lexical
Input
											Version a: 1.2.3
Version b: 1.10.0
Output
												Newer: 1.10.0
Comparison: versionB is newer
Reason: Minor version 10 is greater than 2.
Major diff: no
Minor diff: yes
Patch diff: no

When to use this

Package managers, CI release tags, and changelog ordering compare semantic versions.

Edge cases

  • 2.10.0 is newer than 2.9.0 because components are numeric.
  • 1.0.0+linux and 1.0.0+windows have equal precedence.
  • 1.0.0-rc.1 sorts before 1.0.0.

References