The value of attribute "itemLabel" associated with an element type "null" must not contain the '<' character.

Environment: JSF 2.0 on GlassFish V3

[Error Message]

The value of attribute "itemLabel" associated with an element type "null" must not contain the '<' character.

Source Code 

Root Cause
The problem results from the itemValue cannot accept < in xhtml page


Solution
Move selectItems value and label to managed bean


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    //declare a List variable    
   public List compareList = new ArrayList();
 
    //declare a getter class
    public List getCompareList() {         
  compareList.clear();
  compareList.add(new SelectItem(">", ">"));
  compareList.add(new SelectItem("<", "<="));
  return compareList;     
 }

xhtml page should be updated to be like this:

Demo: