Index: t3lib/matchcondition/class.t3lib_matchcondition_abstract.php
===================================================================
--- t3lib/matchcondition/class.t3lib_matchcondition_abstract.php	(revision 7858)
+++ t3lib/matchcondition/class.t3lib_matchcondition_abstract.php	(working copy)
@@ -355,10 +355,15 @@
 				$values = t3lib_div::trimExplode(',', $value, true);
 				foreach ($values as $test) {
 					$point = strcspn($test, '!=<>');
-					$theVarName = substr($test, 0, $point);
-					$nv = $this->getVariable(trim($theVarName));
-					$testValue = substr($test, $point);
-
+					if (strlen($point) < strlen($test)) {
+						$theVarName = substr($test, 0, $point);
+						$nv = $this->getVariable(trim($theVarName));
+						$testValue = substr($test, $point);
+						preg_match('/^(!?=+|<=?|>=?)\s*([^\s]*)\s*$/', $testValue, $matches);
+						$operator = $matches[1];
+					} else {
+						$testValue = $operator . trim($test);
+					}
 					if ($this->compareNumber($testValue, $nv)) {
 						return true;
 					}
@@ -369,8 +374,12 @@
 				foreach ($values as $test) {
 					$point = strcspn($test, '=');
 					$theVarName = substr($test, 0, $point);
-					$nv = $this->getVariable(trim($theVarName));
-					$testValue = substr($test, $point+1);
+					if (strlen($point) < strlen($test)) {
+						$nv = $this->getVariable(trim($theVarName));
+						$testValue = substr($test, $point + 1);
+					} else {
+						$testValue = trim($test);
+					}
 
 					if ($this->searchStringWildcard($nv, trim($testValue))) {
 						return true;