bc(1) [bsd man page]
BC(1) General Commands Manual BC(1) NAME
bc - arbitrary-precision arithmetic language SYNOPSIS
bc [ -c ] [ -l ] [ file ... ] DESCRIPTION
Bc is an interactive processor for a language which resembles C but provides unlimited precision arithmetic. It takes input from any files given, then reads the standard input. The -l argument stands for the name of an arbitrary precision math library. The syntax for bc pro- grams is as follows; L means letter a-z, E means expression, S means statement. Comments are enclosed in /* and */. Names simple variables: L array elements: L [ E ] The words `ibase', `obase', and `scale' Other operands arbitrarily long numbers with optional sign and decimal point. ( E ) sqrt ( E ) length ( E ) number of significant decimal digits scale ( E ) number of digits right of decimal point L ( E , ... , E ) Operators + - * / % ^ (% is remainder; ^ is power) ++ -- (prefix and postfix; apply to names) == <= >= != < > = += -= *= /= %= ^= Statements E { S ; ... ; S } if ( E ) S while ( E ) S for ( E ; E ; E ) S null statement break quit Function definitions define L ( L ,..., L ) { auto L, ... , L S; ... S return ( E ) } Functions in -l math library s(x) sine c(x) cosine e(x) exponential l(x) log a(x) arctangent j(n,x) Bessel function All function arguments are passed by value. The value of a statement that is an expression is printed unless the main operator is an assignment. Either semicolons or newlines may separate statements. Assignment to scale influences the number of digits to be retained on arithmetic operations in the manner of dc(1). Assignments to ibase or obase set the input and output number radix respectively. The same letter may be used as an array, a function, and a simple variable simultaneously. All variables are global to the program. `Auto' variables are pushed down during function calls. When using arrays as function arguments or defining them as automatic variables empty square brackets must follow the array name. For example scale = 20 define e(x){ auto a, b, c, i, s a = 1 b = 1 s = 1 for(i=1; 1==1; i++){ a = a*x b = b*i c = a/b if(c == 0) return(s) s = s+c } } defines a function to compute an approximate value of the exponential function and for(i=1; i<=10; i++) e(i) prints approximate values of the exponential function of the first ten integers. Bc is actually a preprocessor for dc(1), which it invokes automatically, unless the -c (compile only) option is present. In this case the dc input is sent to the standard output instead. FILES
/usr/share/misc/lib.b mathematical library dc(1) desk calculator proper SEE ALSO
dc(1) L. L. Cherry and R. Morris, BC - An arbitrary precision desk-calculator language BUGS
No &&, ||, or ! operators. For statement must have all three E's. Quit is interpreted when read, not when executed. 7th Edition October 21, 1996 BC(1)
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bc(1) User Commands bc(1) NAME
bc - arbitrary precision arithmetic language SYNOPSIS
/usr/bin/bc [-c] [-l] [file...] /usr/xpg6/bin/bc [-c] [-l] [file...] DESCRIPTION
The bc utility implements an arbitrary precision calculator. It takes input from any files given, then reads from the standard input. If the standard input and standard output to bc are attached to a terminal, the invocation of bc is interactive, causing behavioral con- straints described in the following sections. bc processes a language that resembles C and is a preprocessor for the desk calculator pro- gram dc, which it invokes automatically unless the -c option is specified. In this case the dc input is sent to the standard output instead. USAGE
The syntax for bc programs is as follows: L Means a letter a-z, E Means an expression: a (mathematical or logical) value, an operand that takes a value, or a combination of operands and operators that evaluates to a value, S Means a statement. Comments Enclosed in /* and */. Names (Operands) Simple variables: L. Array elements: L [ E ] (up to BC_DIM_MAX dimensions). The words ibase, obase (limited to BC_BASE_MAX), and scale (limited to BC_SCALE_MAX). Other Operands Arbitrarily long numbers with optional sign and decimal point. Strings of fewer than BC_STRING_MAX characters, between double quotes ("). ( E ) sqrt ( E ) Square root length ( E ) Number of significant decimal digits. scale ( E ) Number of digits right of decimal point. L ( E , ... , E ) Operators + - * / % ^ (% is remainder; ^ is power) ++ -- (prefix and postfix; apply to names) == <= >= != < > = =+ =- =* =/ =% =^ Statements E { S ;... ; S } if ( E ) S while ( E ) S for ( E ; E ; E ) S null statement break quit .string Function Definitions define L ( L ,..., L ) { auto L ,..., L S ;... S return ( E ) } Functions in -l Math Library s(x) sine c(x) cosine e(x) exponential l(x) log a(x) arctangent j(n,x) Bessel function All function arguments are passed by value. The value of a statement that is an expression is printed unless the main operator is an assignment. Either semicolons or new-lines may separate statements. Assignment to scale influences the number of digits to be retained on arithmetic operations in the manner of dc. Assignments to ibase or obase set the input and output number radix respectively. The same letter may be used as an array, a function, and a simple variable simultaneously. All variables are global to the program. auto variables are stacked during function calls. When using arrays as function arguments or defining them as automatic variables, empty square brackets must follow the array name. OPTIONS
The following operands are supported: -c Compiles only. The output is dc commands that are sent to the standard output. /usr/bin/bc -l Defines the math functions and initializes scale to 20, instead of the default zero. /usr/xpg6/bin/bc -l Defines the math functions and initializes scale to 20, instead of the default zero. All math results have the scale of 20. OPERANDS
The following operands are supported: file A pathname of a text file containing bc program statements. After all cases of file have been read, bc reads the standard input. EXAMPLES
Example 1: Setting the precision of a variable In the shell, the following assigns an approximation of the first ten digits of n to the variable x: x=$(printf "%s " 'scale = 10; 104348/33215' | bc) Example 2: Defining a computing function Defines a function to compute an approximate value of the exponential function: scale = 20 define e(x){ auto a, b, c, i, s a = 1 b = 1 s = 1 for(i=1; 1==1; i++){ a = a*x b = b*i c = a/b if(c == 0) return(s) s = s+c } } Example 3: Printing the approximate values of the function Prints approximate values of the exponential function of the first ten integers: for(i=1; i<=10; i++) e(i) or for (i = 1; i <= 10; ++i) { e(i) } ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
See environ(5) for descriptions of the following environment variables that affect the execution of bc: LANG, LC_ALL, LC_CTYPE, LC_MES- SAGES, and NLSPATH. EXIT STATUS
The following exit values are returned: 0 All input files were processed successfully. unspecified An error occurred. FILES
/usr/lib/lib.b mathematical library /usr/include/limits.h to define BC_ parameters ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes: +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+ | ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE | +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+ |Availability |SUNWesu | +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+ |Interface Stability |Standard | +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+ SEE ALSO
dc(1), awk(1), attributes(5), environ(5), standards(5) NOTES
The bc command does not recognize the logical operators && and ||. The for statement must have all three expressions (E's). SunOS 5.10 29 Aug 2003 bc(1)