There are a few operators, which can compare both strings and numbers, or even compound objects like pairs.
cmp compares two objects and returns a value of the Order type, either Less, or Same, or More.
say 2 cmp 2;  # Same say 2 cmp 2.0; # Same say 1 cmp 2;  # Less say 2 cmp 1;   # More say "a" cmp "b";       # Less say "abc" cmp "b";     # Less say "bc" cmp "b";      # More say "abc" cmp "ABC".lc; # Same my %a = (a => 1); my %b = (a => 1); say %a cmp %b; # Same
When the two operands are of different types (for example, one is a number and the other is a string) you have to be careful and think that the compiler may choose from one of the overloaded versions of the cmp operator. Here is the list of them:
proto sub infix:<cmp>(Any, Any)    returns Order:D is assoc<none> multi sub infix:<cmp>(Any,       Any) multi sub infix:<cmp>(Real:D,   Real:D) multi sub infix:<cmp>(Str:D,     Str:D) multi sub infix:<cmp>(Enum:D,    Enum:D) multi sub infix:<cmp>(Version:D, Version:D)
(The 😀 in the declarations is not a smiley; this is a trait indicating that the argument must be defined.)
So, when you ask to compare a string to a number, the most probable choice will be the one having the signature with two strings: (Str:D, Str:D). So, both operands will be cast to strings:
say "+42" cmp +42; # Less say ~42 cmp +42;Â Â # Same