Best practise to compare integer value in cuke test scenarios

I need to compare numbers which is greater than or lesser than count in cucumber test. How should I write scenario for this to do it in effective manner?

Scenario: Search and Compare count value.
Then I Search and Verify "user" count  is "less than" 3
Then I Search and Verify "user" count  is "greater than" 3

From an above scenarios How should I pass comparator operator and get from java stepdefs.