HP-UX Reference (11i v1 05/09) - 1 User Commands A-M (vol 1)

b
bc(1) bc(1)
NAME
bc - arbitrary-precision arithmetic language
SYNOPSIS
bc [-c][-l][file ... ]
DESCRIPTION
bc is an interactive processor for a language that resembles C but provides unlimited-precision arithmetic.
It takes input from any files given, then reads the standard input.
Options:
bc recognizes the following command-line options:
-c Compile only. bc is actually a preprocessor for
dc which bc invokes automatically (see
dc(1)). Specifying
-c prevents invoking dc, and sends the dc input to standard output.
-l causes an arbitrary-precision math library to be predefined. As a side effect, the scale fac-
tor is set.
Program Syntax:
L a single letter in the range a through z;
E expression;
S statement;
R relational expression.
Comments:
Comments are enclosed in /* and */.
Names:
Names include:
simple variables: L
array elements: L [ E ]
The words ibase,obase, and scale
stacks: L
Other Operands
Other operands include:
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 )
Strings of ASCII characters enclosed in quotes (" ).
Arithmetic Operators:
Arithmetic operators yield an E as a result and include:
+-*/%ˆ ( % is remainder (not mod, see below); ˆ is power).
++ - - (prefix and append; apply to names)
=+=-=*=/=%=ˆ=
Relational Operators
Relational operators yield an R when used as E op E:
== <= >= != < >
HP-UX 11i Version 1: September 2005 − 1 − Hewlett-Packard Company Section 1−−41