How to compare magento version programmatically?

Question

I am trying to compare magento version so I can check if the current version is greater then 1.6 use the code otherwise don't. I can get the magento version by using Mage::getVersion() and it returns 1.7.0.2 (a string) but how do I compare it so that my code won't break the page when installed on another magento whose version lower then this? Is there any other way better than this. solution must be from within magento.

Answer 1

You can use the version_compare function.

$magentoVersion = Mage::getVersion();
if (version_compare($magentoVersion, '1.6', '>=')){
    //version is 1.6 or greater
} 
else {
    //version is below 1.6
}

Answer 2

if(version_compare(Mage::getVersion(), '1.7.0.2') > 0)