[perl] converting a string

[mickey]

Hello,
i have a problem with perl. Se below.

my $v =0;
........................................
if ($_ =~ m/value = (\S+)/) {
               $v = $1; // $1 take the right value eg. "e-33"
               if ( $v < 1) { # here the error
                 ......................
               }
//the file is:
..............
otherString value = e-30 otherString
otherString value = 4e-30 otherString
otherString value = 1e-20 otherString
.........................

my $v =0;
........................................
if ($_ =~ m/value = (\S+)/) {
               $v = $1; // $1 take the right value eg. "e-33"
               if ( $v < 1) { # here the error
                 ......................
               }
//the file is:
..............
otherString value = e-30 otherString
otherString value = 4e-30 otherString
otherString value = 1e-20 otherString
.........................

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I have to extract the value of field "value" in a file a compare it as it was a numerical. But the shell says that $v it's not numeric....

Is it possible?

thanks,