Annotation of src/usr.bin/bc/bc.1, Revision 1.6
1.6 ! otto 1: .\" $OpenBSD: bc.1,v 1.5 2003/09/26 13:47:16 otto Exp $
1.1 otto 2: .\"
3: .\" Copyright (C) Caldera International Inc. 2001-2002.
4: .\" All rights reserved.
5: .\"
6: .\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
7: .\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
8: .\" are met:
9: .\" 1. Redistributions of source code and documentation must retain the above
10: .\" copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
11: .\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
12: .\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
13: .\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
14: .\" 3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software
15: .\" must display the following acknowledgement:
16: .\" This product includes software developed or owned by Caldera
17: .\" International, Inc.
18: .\" 4. Neither the name of Caldera International, Inc. nor the names of other
19: .\" contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived from
20: .\" this software without specific prior written permission.
21: .\"
22: .\" USE OF THE SOFTWARE PROVIDED FOR UNDER THIS LICENSE BY CALDERA
23: .\" INTERNATIONAL, INC. AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND ANY EXPRESS OR
24: .\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES
25: .\" OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED.
26: .\" IN NO EVENT SHALL CALDERA INTERNATIONAL, INC. BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT,
27: .\" INDIRECT INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES
28: .\" (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR
29: .\" SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
30: .\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT,
31: .\" STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING
32: .\" IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE
33: .\" POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
34: .\"
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 */
1.1 otto 87: .Ed
88: .Pp
89: Names
90: .Bd -unfilled -offset indent -compact
91: simple variables: L
92: array elements: L [ E ]
93: The words `ibase', `obase', and `scale'
94: .Ed
95: .Pp
96: Other operands
97: .Bd -unfilled -offset indent -compact
1.4 jmc 98: arbitrarily long numbers with optional sign and decimal point
99: ( E )
1.1 otto 100: sqrt ( E )
101: length ( E ) number of significant decimal digits
102: scale ( E ) number of digits right of decimal point
103: L ( E , ... , E )
104: .Ed
105: .Pp
106: Operators
107: .Bd -unfilled -offset indent -compact
1.4 jmc 108: + \- * / % ^ (`%' is remainder; `^' is power)
109: ++ \-\- (prefix and postfix; apply to names)
110: == <= >= != < >
111: = += \-= *= /= %= ^=
1.1 otto 112: .Ed
113: .Pp
114: Statements
115: .Bd -unfilled -offset indent -compact
116: E
117: { S ; ... ; S }
118: if ( E ) S
119: while ( E ) S
120: for ( E ; E ; E ) S
121: null statement
122: break
1.6 ! otto 123: continue
1.1 otto 124: quit
1.6 ! otto 125: a string of characters, enclosed in double quotes
1.1 otto 126: .Ed
127: .Pp
128: Function definitions
129: .Bd -unfilled -offset indent -compact
130: define L ( L ,..., L ) {
131: auto L, ... , L
132: S; ... S
133: return ( E )
134: }
135: .Ed
1.5 otto 136: .Pp
137: The sequence
138: .Sq \e\<newline><whitespace>
139: is ignored within numbers.
1.6 ! otto 140: A string may contain any character, except double quote.
1.1 otto 141: .Pp
142: Functions in
1.4 jmc 143: .Fl lm
1.1 otto 144: math library
145: .Bl -tag -width j(n,x) -offset indent -compact
146: .It s(x)
147: sine
148: .It c(x)
149: cosine
150: .It e(x)
151: exponential
152: .It l(x)
153: log
154: .It a(x)
155: arctangent
156: .It j(n,x)
157: Bessel function
158: .El
159: .Pp
160: All function arguments are passed by value.
161: .Pp
162: The value of a statement that is an expression is printed
163: unless the main operator is an assignment.
164: Either semicolons or newlines may separate statements.
165: Assignment to
166: .Ar scale
167: influences the number of digits to be retained on arithmetic
168: operations in the manner of
1.4 jmc 169: .Xr dc 1 .
1.1 otto 170: Assignments to
171: .Ar ibase
172: or
173: .Ar obase
174: set the input and output number radix respectively.
175: .Pp
176: The same letter may be used as an array, a function,
177: and a simple variable simultaneously.
178: All variables are global to the program.
179: `Auto' variables are pushed down during function calls.
180: When using arrays as function arguments
1.4 jmc 181: or defining them as automatic variables,
1.1 otto 182: empty square brackets must follow the array name.
183: .Pp
184: For example
185: .Bd -literal -offset indent
186: scale = 20
187: define e(x){
188: auto a, b, c, i, s
189: a = 1
190: b = 1
191: s = 1
192: for(i=1; 1==1; i++){
193: a = a*x
194: b = b*i
195: c = a/b
196: if(c == 0) return(s)
197: s = s+c
198: }
199: }
200: .Ed
201: .Pp
202: defines a function to compute an approximate value of
203: the exponential function and
204: .Pp
205: .Dl for(i=1; i<=10; i++) e(i)
206: .Pp
207: prints approximate values of the exponential function of
208: the first ten integers.
209: .Sh SEE ALSO
1.4 jmc 210: .Xr dc 1
1.1 otto 211: .Rs
212: .%A L. L. Cherry
213: .%A R. Morris
214: .%T "BC \- An arbitrary precision desk-calculator language"
215: .Re
1.3 otto 216: .Sh STANDARDS
217: The
218: .Nm
219: utility is expected to conform to the
220: .St -p1003.2
1.4 jmc 221: specification.
1.1 otto 222: .Sh HISTORY
223: The
1.4 jmc 224: .Nm
1.1 otto 225: command appeared in
226: .At v6 .
227: .Sh BUGS
1.4 jmc 228: No
229: .Sq && ,
230: .Sq \(or\(or ,
231: or
232: .Sq \&!
233: operators.
1.1 otto 234: .Pp
235: .Ql For
1.4 jmc 236: statements must have all three E's.
1.1 otto 237: .Pp
238: .Ql Quit
239: is interpreted when read, not when executed.
1.3 otto 240: .Pp
241: Some non-portable extensions, as found in the GNU version of the
242: .Nm
243: utility are not implemented (yet).
![[BACK]](/icons/back.gif){kind=icon}
Return to bc.1 CVS log ![[TXT]](/icons/text.gif){kind=icon}
![[DIR]](/icons/dir.gif){kind=icon}
Up to [local] / src / usr.bin / bc