Annotation of src/usr.bin/bc/bc.1, Revision 1.12
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35: .\" @(#)bc.1 6.8 (Berkeley) 8/8/91
36: .\"
37: .Dd August 8, 1991
38: .Dt BC 1
39: .Sh NAME
1.4 jmc 40: .Nm bc
1.1 otto 41: .Nd arbitrary-precision arithmetic language and calculator
42: .Sh SYNOPSIS
1.4 jmc 43: .Nm bc
44: .Op Fl cl
1.5 otto 45: .Op Ar file ...
1.1 otto 46: .Sh DESCRIPTION
1.4 jmc 47: .Nm
1.1 otto 48: is an interactive processor for a language which resembles
49: C but provides unlimited precision arithmetic.
50: It takes input from any files given, then reads
51: the standard input.
52: .Pp
53: Options available:
1.4 jmc 54: .Bl -tag -width Ds
1.1 otto 55: .It Fl c
1.4 jmc 56: .Nm
1.1 otto 57: is actually a preprocessor for
1.4 jmc 58: .Xr dc 1 ,
1.1 otto 59: which it invokes automatically, unless the
60: .Fl c
1.4 jmc 61: .Pq compile only
1.1 otto 62: option is present.
1.4 jmc 63: In this case the generated
64: .Xr dc 1
65: instructions are sent to the standard output,
66: instead of being interpreted by a running
67: .Xr dc 1
68: process.
69: .It Fl l
70: Allow specification
71: of an arbitrary precision math library.
1.2 deraadt 72: .El
1.1 otto 73: .Pp
74: The syntax for
1.4 jmc 75: .Nm
76: programs is as follows:
77: .Sq L
78: means letter a-z;
79: .Sq E
80: means expression;
81: .Sq S
82: means statement.
1.1 otto 83: .Pp
84: Comments
85: .Bd -unfilled -offset indent -compact
1.4 jmc 86: are enclosed in /* and */
1.12 ! otto 87: are enclosed in # and the next newline
1.1 otto 88: .Ed
89: .Pp
1.12 ! otto 90: The newline is not part of the line comment,
! 91: which in itself is a non-portable extension.
! 92: .Pp
1.1 otto 93: Names
94: .Bd -unfilled -offset indent -compact
95: simple variables: L
96: array elements: L [ E ]
97: The words `ibase', `obase', and `scale'
1.10 otto 98: The word `last' or a single dot
1.1 otto 99: .Ed
100: .Pp
101: Other operands
102: .Bd -unfilled -offset indent -compact
1.4 jmc 103: arbitrarily long numbers with optional sign and decimal point
104: ( E )
1.1 otto 105: sqrt ( E )
106: length ( E ) number of significant decimal digits
107: scale ( E ) number of digits right of decimal point
108: L ( E , ... , E )
109: .Ed
110: .Pp
1.11 otto 111: The sequence
112: .Sq \e<newline><whitespace>
113: is ignored within numbers.
114: .Pp
1.1 otto 115: Operators
116: .Bd -unfilled -offset indent -compact
1.4 jmc 117: + \- * / % ^ (`%' is remainder; `^' is power)
118: ++ \-\- (prefix and postfix; apply to names)
119: == <= >= != < >
120: = += \-= *= /= %= ^=
1.1 otto 121: .Ed
122: .Pp
123: Statements
124: .Bd -unfilled -offset indent -compact
125: E
126: { S ; ... ; S }
127: if ( E ) S
1.9 otto 128: if ( E ) S else S
1.1 otto 129: while ( E ) S
130: for ( E ; E ; E ) S
131: null statement
132: break
1.6 otto 133: continue
1.1 otto 134: quit
1.6 otto 135: a string of characters, enclosed in double quotes
1.11 otto 136: print E ,..., E
1.1 otto 137: .Ed
138: .Pp
1.11 otto 139: A string may contain any character, except double quote.
1.9 otto 140: The if statement with an else branch is a non-portable extension.
1.8 jmc 141: All three E's in a for statement may be empty.
1.7 otto 142: This is a non-portable extension.
1.11 otto 143: The continue and print statements are also non-portable extensions.
144: .Pp
145: The print statement takes a list of comma-separated expressions.
146: Each expression in the list is evaluated and the computed
147: value is printed and assigned to the variable `last'.
148: No trailing newline is printed.
149: The expression may also be a string enclosed in double quotes.
150: Within these strings the following escape sequences may be used:
151: .Sq \ea
152: for bell (alert),
153: .Sq \eb
154: for backspace,
155: .Sq \ef
156: for formfeed,
157: .Sq \en
158: for newline,
159: .Sq \er
160: for carriage return,
161: .Sq \et
162: for tab,
163: .Sq \eq
164: for double quote and
165: .Sq \e\e
166: for backslash.
167: Any other character following a backslash will be ignored.
168: Strings will not be assigned to `last'.
1.7 otto 169: .Pp
1.1 otto 170: Function definitions
1.11 otto 171: .Pp
1.1 otto 172: .Bd -unfilled -offset indent -compact
173: define L ( L ,..., L ) {
174: auto L, ... , L
175: S; ... S
176: return ( E )
177: }
178: .Ed
1.12 ! otto 179: .Pp
! 180: As a non-portable extension, the opening brace of the define statement
! 181: may appear on the next line.
! 182: The return statement may also appear in the following forms:
! 183: .Pp
! 184: .Bd -unfilled -offset indent
! 185: return
! 186: return ()
! 187: return E
! 188: .Ed
! 189: .Pp
! 190: The first two are equivalent to the statement
! 191: .Dq return 0 .
! 192: The last form is a non-portable extension.
! 193: Not specifying a return statement is equivalent to writing
! 194: .Dq return (0) .
1.5 otto 195: .Pp
1.11 otto 196: Functions available in the math library, which is loaded by specifying the
197: .Fl l
198: flag on the command line
1.1 otto 199: .Pp
200: .Bl -tag -width j(n,x) -offset indent -compact
201: .It s(x)
202: sine
203: .It c(x)
204: cosine
205: .It e(x)
206: exponential
207: .It l(x)
208: log
209: .It a(x)
210: arctangent
211: .It j(n,x)
212: Bessel function
213: .El
214: .Pp
215: All function arguments are passed by value.
216: .Pp
217: The value of a statement that is an expression is printed
218: unless the main operator is an assignment.
1.10 otto 219: The value printed is assigned to the special variable `last'.
220: This is a non-portable extension.
221: A single dot may be used as a synonym for `last'.
1.1 otto 222: Either semicolons or newlines may separate statements.
223: Assignment to
224: .Ar scale
225: influences the number of digits to be retained on arithmetic
226: operations in the manner of
1.4 jmc 227: .Xr dc 1 .
1.1 otto 228: Assignments to
229: .Ar ibase
230: or
231: .Ar obase
232: set the input and output number radix respectively.
233: .Pp
234: The same letter may be used as an array, a function,
235: and a simple variable simultaneously.
236: All variables are global to the program.
237: `Auto' variables are pushed down during function calls.
238: When using arrays as function arguments
1.4 jmc 239: or defining them as automatic variables,
1.1 otto 240: empty square brackets must follow the array name.
241: .Pp
242: For example
243: .Bd -literal -offset indent
244: scale = 20
245: define e(x){
246: auto a, b, c, i, s
247: a = 1
248: b = 1
249: s = 1
250: for(i=1; 1==1; i++){
251: a = a*x
252: b = b*i
253: c = a/b
254: if(c == 0) return(s)
255: s = s+c
256: }
257: }
258: .Ed
259: .Pp
260: defines a function to compute an approximate value of
261: the exponential function and
262: .Pp
263: .Dl for(i=1; i<=10; i++) e(i)
264: .Pp
265: prints approximate values of the exponential function of
266: the first ten integers.
1.11 otto 267: .Sh FILES
268: .Bl -tag -width /usr/share/misc/bc.library -compact
269: .It Pa /usr/share/misc/bc.library
270: math library, read when the
271: .Fl l
272: option is specified on the command line.
273: .El
1.1 otto 274: .Sh SEE ALSO
1.4 jmc 275: .Xr dc 1
1.1 otto 276: .Rs
1.11 otto 277: .%B USD
278: .%V 06
1.1 otto 279: .%A L. L. Cherry
280: .%A R. Morris
281: .%T "BC \- An arbitrary precision desk-calculator language"
282: .Re
1.3 otto 283: .Sh STANDARDS
284: The
285: .Nm
286: utility is expected to conform to the
287: .St -p1003.2
1.4 jmc 288: specification.
1.1 otto 289: .Sh HISTORY
290: The
1.4 jmc 291: .Nm
1.11 otto 292: first command appeared in
1.1 otto 293: .At v6 .
1.11 otto 294: A complete rewrite of the
295: .Nm
296: command first appeared in
297: .Ox 3.5 .
298: .Sh AUTHORS
299: The original version of the
300: .Nm
301: command was written by
302: .An Robert Morris
303: and
304: .An Lorinda Cherry .
305: The current version of the
306: .Nm
307: utility was written by
308: .An Otto Moerbeek .
1.1 otto 309: .Sh BUGS
1.4 jmc 310: No
311: .Sq && ,
312: .Sq \(or\(or ,
313: or
314: .Sq \&!
315: operators.
1.1 otto 316: .Pp
317: .Ql Quit
318: is interpreted when read, not when executed.
1.3 otto 319: .Pp
320: Some non-portable extensions, as found in the GNU version of the
321: .Nm
322: utility are not implemented (yet).
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