When you read in a line, it includes the newline "\n" at the end of the string and thus your string comparison does not work. By contrast, conversion to a number drops the newline, so your numerical comparison does work. To fix it, use chomp: 
chomp( $guess = $_);

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-Mark

In reply to Re: conversion between numbers and strings? by kvale
in thread conversion between numbers and strings? by Anonymous Monk

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