C:\tmp\e>perl
use List::Util qw( min max );
($a,$b) = (3,7);
print "$_ is inside: ", min($a,$b) <= $_ <= max($a,$b),"\n"  for 2..8
__END__
2 is inside:
3 is inside: 1
4 is inside: 1
5 is inside: 1
6 is inside: 1
7 is inside: 1
8 is inside: