---
name: "Dpkg::Version"
section: "3perl"
platform: "linux"
package: "dpkg"
version: "1.23.11-1"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/Dpkg::Version/3perl"
---

# Dpkg::Version(3perl)

handling and comparing dpkg-style version numbers

## NAME

Dpkg::Version - handling and comparing dpkg-style version numbers

## DESCRIPTION

The Dpkg::Version module provides pure-Perl routines to compare dpkg-style version numbers (as used in Debian packages) and also an object oriented interface overriding perl operators to do the right thing when you compare Dpkg::Version object between them.

## METHODS

- $v = Dpkg::Version-\>new($version, %opts)

  Create a new Dpkg::Version object corresponding to the version indicated in the string (scalar) `$version`. By default it will accept any string and consider it as a valid version, but this can be controlled with the "check" option.

  You can always call `$v`-\>**is\_valid()** later on to verify that the version is valid.

  Options:

  - **check**

    Setting this option to true will return undef if the version is invalid (see `$v`-\>**version\_check()** for details).

- boolean evaluation

  When the Dpkg::Version object is used in a boolean evaluation (for example in "if ($v)" or "$v ? \\"$v\\" : 'default'") it returns true if the version stored is valid ($v-\>**is\_valid()**) and false otherwise.

  **Notice**: Between dpkg 1.15.7.2 and 1.19.1 this overload used to return `$v`-\>**as\_string()** if `$v`-\>**is\_valid()**, a breaking change in behavior that caused "0" versions to be evaluated as false. To catch any possibly intended code that relied on those semantics, this overload emitted a warning with category "Dpkg::Version::semantic\_change::overload::bool" between dpkg 1.19.1 and 1.20.0. Once fixed, or for already valid code the warning could be quiesced for that specific versions with

  ```
    no if $Dpkg::Version::VERSION eq '1.02',
       warnings => qw(Dpkg::Version::semantic_change::overload::bool);
  ```

  added after the `"use Dpkg::Version"`.

- $bool = $v-\>**is\_valid()**

  Returns true if the version is valid, false otherwise.

- $string = $v-\>**epoch()**

  Returns the epoch part of the full version string.

  If the version parsed did not have an epoch, the value returned will be 0.

- $string = $v-\>**version()**

  Returns the upstream version part of the full version string.

- $string = $v-\>**revision()**

  Returns the revision part of the full version string.

  If the version parsed did not have a revision, the value returned will be 0.

- $bool = $v-\>**is\_native()**

  Returns true if the version is native, false if it has a revision.

  **Note**: On some vendors, dpkg has been made incoherent, and a native source package format can end up having a non-native version, adding to the confusion of the whole concept. And while this method would be fine to be used on vendors that have a coherent native source concept, this is not a pattern that will be portably relied on. Thus this method is being deprecated. Depending on the context, using the negated result of the `$v`-\>**has\_revision()** method might be sensible.

- $v-\>**has\_epoch()**

  Returns true if the version has an epoch, false otherwise.

- $v-\>**has\_revision()**

  Returns true if the version has a revision, false otherwise.

- $cmp = $v1 \<=\> $v2

  - $cmp = $v1 \< $v2

  - $cmp = $v1 \<= $v2

  - $cmp = $v1 \> $v2

  - $cmp = $v1 \>= $v2

  Numerical comparison of various versions numbers. One of the two operands needs to be a Dpkg::Version, the other one can be anything provided that its string representation is a version number.

- $string = "$v"

  - $string = $v-\>as\_string(%opts)

  Accepts an options `%opts` hash, affecting the string conversion.

  Options:

  - **omit\_epoch** (defaults to 0)

    Omit the epoch, if present, in the output string.

  - **omit\_revision** (defaults to 0)

    Omit the revision, if present, in the output string.

  Returns the string representation of the version number.

## FUNCTIONS

All the functions are exported by default.

- $cmp = version\_compare($a, $b)

  Returns -1 if `$a` is earlier than `$b`, 0 if they are equal and 1 if `$a` is later than `$b`.

  If `$a` or `$b` are not valid version numbers, it dies with an error.

- $bool = version\_compare\_relation($a, $rel, $b)

  Returns the result (0 or 1) of the given comparison operation. This function is implemented on top of **version\_compare()**.

  Allowed values for `$rel` are the exported constants REL\_GT, REL\_GE, REL\_EQ, REL\_LE, REL\_LT. Use **version\_normalize\_relation()** if you have an input string containing the operator.

- $rel = version\_normalize\_relation($rel\_string)

  Returns the normalized constant of the relation `$rel` (a value among REL\_GT, REL\_GE, REL\_EQ, REL\_LE and REL\_LT). Supported relations names in input are: "gt", "ge", "eq", "le", "lt", "\>\>", "\>=", "=", "\<=", "\<\<". "\>" and "\<" are also supported but should not be used as they are obsolete aliases of "\>=" and "\<=".

- $cmp = version\_compare\_string($a, $b)

  String comparison function used for comparing non-numerical parts of version numbers. Returns -1 if `$a` is earlier than `$b`, 0 if they are equal and 1 if `$a` is later than `$b`.

  The "~" character always sort lower than anything else. Digits sort lower than non-digits. Among remaining characters alphabetic characters (A-Z, a-z) sort lower than the other ones. Within each range, the ASCII decimal value of the character is used to sort between characters.

- $cmp = version\_compare\_part($a, $b)

  Compare two corresponding sub-parts of a version number (either upstream version or debian revision).

  Each parameter is split by **version\_split\_digits()** and resulting items are compared together. As soon as a difference happens, it returns -1 if `$a` is earlier than `$b`, 0 if they are equal and 1 if `$a` is later than `$b`.

- @items = version\_split\_digits($version)

  Splits a string in items that are each entirely composed either of digits or of non-digits. For instance for "1.024~beta1+svn234" it would return ("1", ".", "024", "~beta", "1", "+svn", "234").

- ($ok, $msg) = version\_check($version)

  - $ok = version\_check($version)

  Checks the validity of `$version` as a version number. Returns 1 in `$ok` if the version is valid, 0 otherwise. In the latter case, `$msg` contains a description of the problem with the `$version` scalar.

## CHANGES

### Version 1.05 (dpkg 1.23.3)

New methods: `$v`-\>**has\_epoch()**, `$v`-\>**has\_revision()**.

### Version 1.04 (dpkg 1.23.0)

Deprecated method: `$v`-\>**is\_native()**.

### Version 1.03 (dpkg 1.20.0)

Remove deprecation warning from semantic change in 1.02.

### Version 1.02 (dpkg 1.19.1)

Semantic change: bool evaluation semantics restored to their original behavior.

### Version 1.01 (dpkg 1.17.0)

New argument: Accept an options argument in `$v`-\>**as\_string()**.

New method: `$v`-\>**is\_native()**.

### Version 1.00 (dpkg 1.15.6)

Mark the module as public.