# Correct term in english to call the symbols: “=” / “≥” / “≤”

I'm not speak English very well, and I have a question about how I can call the symbols = / ≥ / ≤.

To describe them with a word in Portuguese, we use sinal (signal).

Which is the correct term in English? I want a single word to describe all three symbols, not three separate words.

EDIT

I want knows the better term to use in my function name getConstraintSign.

export const getConstraintSign = function(constraint) {
return constraint.greater ? '≥' : constraint.less ? '≤' : '=';
}

• I think the word you're looking for is "sign," though "symbol" is perfectly good. – saulspatz Mar 21 '18 at 18:04
• I think "sign" will do. But to be sure, show us a complete sentence where you want to use it. – Ethan Bolker Mar 21 '18 at 18:05
• "sign" is overloaded, though, so be aware of the context. It also refers to the unary plus or minus sign indicating whether a number is positive or negative. – Bungo Mar 21 '18 at 18:09
• In this context, I would call it a relational operator, but if you don't like getRelationalOperator I would suggest getOperator. – saulspatz Mar 21 '18 at 18:35
• Comparisons or relations. – copper.hat Mar 21 '18 at 18:43

In the program context you provide,

getConstraintSign


is fine.

getConstraintSymbol


would work too, and is a little more precise, since it's really a glyph (symbol) you're returning.

• thanks for the answer, but the @saulspatz suggests use getConstraintOperator, my question continues the sames, how is the best term? I believe isn't a better term and all this terms are fine. Am I correct? – FabianoLothor Mar 21 '18 at 18:43
• There is no "best term". Any one of the three is clear enough so that someone reading your code will know just what the function does. I would use "symbol" but wouldn't object (wouldn't even comment) on the other choices in a code review. – Ethan Bolker Mar 21 '18 at 18:47