bc(1)

bc(1)                                     bc(1)



NAME
       bc - An arbitrary precision calculator language

SYNTAX
       bc [ -hlwsqv ] [long-options] [    file ... ]

DESCRIPTION
       bc  is a language that supports arbitrary precision numbers with inter-
       active execution of statements.    There are  some     similarities  in  the
       syntax  to  the    C  programming    language.   A standard math library is
       available by command line option.  If requested, the  math  library  is
       defined before processing any files.  bc starts by processing code from
       all the files listed on the command line in the    order  listed.     After
       all  files  have been processed, bc reads from the standard input.  All
       code is executed as it is read.    (If a file contains a command to  halt
       the processor, bc will never read from the standard input.)

       This  version  of  bc contains several extensions beyond traditional bc
       implementations and the POSIX draft standard.  Command line options can
       cause these extensions to print a warning or to be rejected.  This doc-
       ument describes the language accepted by     this  processor.   Extensions
       will be identified as such.

   OPTIONS
       -h, --help
          Print the usage and exit.

       -i, --interactive
          Force interactive mode.

       -l, --mathlib
          Define the standard math library.

       -w, --warn
          Give warnings for extensions to POSIX bc.

       -s, --standard
          Process exactly the POSIX bc language.

       -q, --quiet
          Do not print the normal GNU bc welcome.

       -v, --version
          Print the version number and copyright and quit.

   NUMBERS
       The most basic element in bc is the number.  Numbers are arbitrary pre-
       cision numbers.    This precision is both in the  integer    part  and  the
       fractional part.     All numbers are represented internally in decimal and
       all computation is done in decimal.  (This  version  truncates  results
       from divide and multiply operations.)  There are two attributes of num-
       bers, the length and the scale.    The length is the total number of sig-
       nificant     decimal  digits in a number and the scale is the total number
       of decimal digits after the decimal point.  For example:
           .000001 has a length of 6 and scale of 6.
           1935.000 has a length of 7 and a scale of 3.

   VARIABLES
       Numbers are stored in two types    of  variables,    simple    variables  and
       arrays.     Both  simple  variables and array variables are named.     Names
       begin with a letter followed by    any  number  of     letters,  digits  and
       underscores.   All  letters  must  be  lower case.  (Full alpha-numeric
       names are an extension. In POSIX bc all names are a single  lower  case
       letter.)      The  type  of     variable  is clear by the context because all
       array variable names will be followed by brackets ([]).

       There are four special variables, scale, ibase, obase, and last.     scale
       defines    how  some  operations use digits after the decimal point.  The
       default value of scale is 0. ibase and obase define the conversion base
       for input and output numbers.  The default for both input and output is
       base 10.     last (an extension) is a variable that has the value  of  the
       last  printed  number.  These will be discussed in further detail where
       appropriate.  All of these variables may have values assigned  to  them
       as well as used in expressions.

   COMMENTS
       Comments in bc start with the characters /* and end with the characters
       */.  Comments may start anywhere and appear as a single    space  in  the
       input.    (This causes comments to delimit other input items.  For exam-
       ple, a comment can not be found in the  middle  of  a  variable    name.)
       Comments     include  any newlines (end of line) between the start and the
       end of the comment.

       To support the use of scripts for bc, a single line  comment  has  been
       added  as  an extension.     A single line comment starts at a # character
       and continues to the next end of the line.  The end of  line  character
       is not part of the comment and is processed normally.

   EXPRESSIONS
       The  numbers  are manipulated by expressions and statements.  Since the
       language was designed to be interactive, statements and expressions are
       executed     as  soon  as possible.     There is no "main" program.  Instead,
       code is executed as it is encountered.  (Functions, discussed in detail
       later, are defined when encountered.)

       A  simple  expression  is  just    a constant. bc converts constants into
       internal decimal numbers using the current input base, specified by the
       variable ibase. (There is an exception in functions.)  The legal values
       of ibase are 2 through 16.  Assigning a value  outside  this  range  to
       ibase will result in a value of 2 or 16.     Input numbers may contain the
       characters 0-9 and A-F. (Note: They must be capitals.  Lower case  let-
       ters  are  variable names.)  Single digit numbers always have the value
       of the digit regardless of the value of ibase.  (i.e.  A     =  10.)   For
       multi-digit  numbers,  bc  changes all input digits greater or equal to
       ibase to the value of ibase-1.  This makes the number FFF always be the
       largest 3 digit number of the input base.

       Full expressions are similar to many other high level languages.     Since
       there is only one kind of number, there are no rules for mixing    types.
       Instead, there are rules on the scale of expressions.  Every expression
       has a scale.  This is derived from the scale of original     numbers,  the
       operation performed and in many cases, the value of the variable scale.
       Legal values of the variable scale are 0 to the maximum    number    repre-
       sentable by a C integer.

       In  the following descriptions of legal expressions, "expr" refers to a
       complete expression and "var" refers to a simple or an array  variable.
       A simple variable is just a
          name
       and an array variable is specified as
          name[expr]
       Unless  specifically  mentioned    the scale of the result is the maximum
       scale of the expressions involved.

       - expr The result is the negation of the expression.

       ++ var The variable is incremented by one and  the  new    value  is  the
          result of the expression.

       -- var The  variable  is     decremented  by  one and the new value is the
          result of the expression.

       var ++  The result of the expression is the value of the     variable  and
          then the variable is incremented by one.

       var -- The  result  of  the expression is the value of the variable and
          then the variable is decremented by one.

       expr + expr
          The result of the expression is the sum of the two  expressions.

       expr - expr
          The  result  of  the  expression    is  the     difference of the two
          expressions.

       expr * expr
          The result of the expression is the product of the  two  expres-
          sions.

       expr / expr
          The  result of the expression is the quotient of the two expres-
          sions.  The scale of the result is the  value  of     the  variable
          scale.

       expr % expr
          The  result  of the expression is the "remainder" and it is com-
          puted in the following way.  To compute a%b, first a/b  is  com-
          puted to scale digits.  That result is used to compute a-(a/b)*b
          to the scale of the maximum of scale+scale(b) and scale(a).   If
          scale  is     set  to  zero    and both expressions are integers this
          expression is the integer remainder function.

       expr ^ expr
          The result of the expression is the value of the first raised to
          the  second.  The second expression must be an integer.  (If the
          second expression is not an integer, a warning is generated  and
          the expression is truncated to get an integer value.)  The scale
          of the result is scale if the  exponent  is  negative.   If  the
          exponent    is  positive the scale of the result is the minimum of
          the scale of the first expression times the value of  the     expo-
          nent and the maximum of scale and the scale of the first expres-
          sion.   (e.g.   scale(a^b)   =   min(scale(a)*b,     max(    scale,
          scale(a))).)   It should be noted that expr^0 will always return
          the value of 1.

       ( expr )
          This alters the standard precedence to force the    evaluation  of
          the expression.

       var = expr
          The variable is assigned the value of the expression.

       var <op>= expr
          This  is    equivalent to "var = var <op> expr" with the exception
          that the "var" part is evaluated only once.   This  can  make  a
          difference if "var" is an array.

       Relational  expressions    are  a    special kind of expression that always
       evaluate to 0 or 1, 0 if the relation is false and 1 if the relation is
       true.   These  may  appear in any legal expression.  (POSIX bc requires
       that relational expressions are used only in if, while, and for    state-
       ments  and  that     only  one  relational test may be done in them.)  The
       relational operators are

       expr1 < expr2
          The result is 1 if expr1 is strictly less than expr2.

       expr1 <= expr2
          The result is 1 if expr1 is less than or equal to expr2.

       expr1 > expr2
          The result is 1 if expr1 is strictly greater than expr2.

       expr1 >= expr2
          The result is 1 if expr1 is greater than or equal to expr2.

       expr1 == expr2
          The result is 1 if expr1 is equal to expr2.

       expr1 != expr2
          The result is 1 if expr1 is not equal to expr2.

       Boolean operations are also legal.  (POSIX bc  does  NOT     have  boolean
       operations).  The  result  of  all  boolean operations are 0 and 1 (for
       false and true) as in relational expressions.   The  boolean  operators
       are:

       !expr  The result is 1 if expr is 0.

       expr && expr
          The result is 1 if both expressions are non-zero.

       expr || expr
          The result is 1 if either expression is non-zero.

       The expression precedence is as follows: (lowest to highest)
          || operator, left associative
          && operator, left associative
          ! operator, nonassociative
          Relational operators, left associative
          Assignment operator, right associative
          + and - operators, left associative
          *, / and % operators, left associative
          ^ operator, right associative
          unary - operator, nonassociative
          ++ and -- operators, nonassociative

       This precedence was chosen so that POSIX compliant bc programs will run
       correctly. This will cause the use of the relational and logical opera-
       tors  to     have  some unusual behavior when used with assignment expres-
       sions.  Consider the expression:
          a = 3 < 5

       Most C programmers would assume this would assign the result of "3 < 5"
       (the  value 1) to the variable "a".  What this does in bc is assign the
       value 3 to the variable "a" and then compare 3 to 5.  It is best to use
       parenthesis  when  using     relational  and  logical  operators  with the
       assignment operators.

       There are a few more special  expressions  that    are  provided  in  bc.
       These  have  to    do with user defined functions and standard functions.
       They all appear as "name(parameters)".  See the    section     on  functions
       for user defined functions.  The standard functions are:

       length ( expression )
          The  value  of  the length function is the number of significant
          digits in the expression.

       read ( )
          The read function (an extension) will read  a  number  from  the
          standard     input,     regardless  of     where    the  function  occurs.
          Beware, this can cause problems with the mixing of data and pro-
          gram  in    the standard input.  The best use for this function is
          in a previously written program that needs input from the     user,
          but  never  allows  program code to be input from the user.  The
          value of the read function is the number read from the  standard
          input using the current value of the variable ibase for the con-
          version base.

       scale ( expression )
          The value of the scale function is the number  of     digits     after
          the decimal point in the expression.

       sqrt ( expression )
          The value of the sqrt function is the square root of the expres-
          sion.  If the expression is negative, a run time error is gener-
          ated.

   STATEMENTS
       Statements  (as    in most algebraic languages) provide the sequencing of
       expression evaluation.  In bc statements are executed "as soon as  pos-
       sible."     Execution  happens when a newline in encountered and there is
       one or more complete statements.     Due to this immediate execution, new-
       lines are very important in bc. In fact, both a semicolon and a newline
       are used as statement separators.  An improperly     placed     newline  will
       cause a syntax error.  Because newlines are statement separators, it is
       possible to hide a newline  by  using  the  backslash  character.   The
       sequence "\<nl>", where <nl> is the newline appears to bc as whitespace
       instead of a newline.  A statement list is a series of statements sepa-
       rated by semicolons and newlines.  The following is a list of bc state-
       ments and what they do: (Things enclosed in brackets ([]) are  optional
       parts of the statement.)

       expression
          This statement does one of two things.  If the expression starts
          with "<variable> <assignment> ...", it is considered  to    be  an
          assignment  statement.   If  the expression is not an assignment
          statement, the expression is evaluated and printed to  the  out-
          put.   After  the     number is printed, a newline is printed.  For
          example, "a=1" is an assignment  statement  and  "(a=1)"    is  an
          expression  that    has  an embedded assignment.  All numbers that
          are printed are printed in the base specified  by     the  variable
          obase.  The  legal  values  for obase are 2 through BC_BASE_MAX.
          (See the section LIMITS.)     For bases 2  through  16,  the     usual
          method  of  writing numbers is used.  For bases greater than 16,
          bc uses a multi-character digit method of printing  the  numbers
          where  each  higher  base     digit is printed as a base 10 number.
          The multi-character digits are separated by spaces.  Each     digit
          contains the number of characters required to represent the base
          ten value of "obase-1".  Since numbers are of  arbitrary    preci-
          sion, some numbers may not be printable on a single output line.
          These long numbers will be split across lines using the  "\"  as
          the  last character on a line.  The maximum number of characters
          printed per line is 70.  Due to the interactive  nature  of  bc,
          printing    a  number  causes  the    side  effect  of assigning the
          printed value to the special variable last. This allows the user
          to  recover  the last value printed without having to retype the
          expression that printed the number.  Assigning to last is     legal
          and  will     overwrite  the     last  printed value with the assigned
          value.  The newly assigned value will remain until the next num-
          ber  is  printed    or  another  value is assigned to last.     (Some
          installations may allow the use of a single period (.) which  is
          not part of a number as a short hand notation for for last.)

       string The  string is printed to the output.  Strings start with a dou-
          ble quote character and contain all characters  until  the  next
          double  quote  character.      All  characters  are take literally,
          including any newline.  No newline character  is    printed     after
          the string.

       print list
          The  print  statement  (an extension) provides another method of
          output.  The "list" is a list of strings and  expressions     sepa-
          rated  by     commas.   Each string or expression is printed in the
          order of the list.  No terminating newline is printed.   Expres-
          sions  are  evaluated and their value is printed and assigned to
          the variable last. Strings in the print statement are printed to
          the  output and may contain special characters.  Special charac-
          ters start with the backslash character (\).  The special     char-
          acters   recognized   by     bc  are  "a"  (alert  or  bell),  "b"
          (backspace), "f"    (form  feed),  "n"  (newline),    "r"  (carriage
          return),    "q"  (double  quote),  "t" (tab), and "\" (backslash).
          Any other character following the backslash will be ignored.

       { statement_list }
          This is the compound statement.  It allows  multiple  statements
          to be grouped together for execution.

       if ( expression ) statement1 [else statement2]
          The  if  statement  evaluates the expression and executes state-
          ment1 or statement2 depending on the value  of  the  expression.
          If  the  expression  is  non-zero,  statement1  is executed.  If
          statement2 is present and the value of the expression is 0, then
          statement2 is executed.  (The else clause is an extension.)

       while ( expression ) statement
          The while statement will execute the statement while the expres-
          sion is non-zero.     It evaluates the expression before each  exe-
          cution  of the statement.      Termination of the loop is caused by
          a zero expression value or the execution of a break statement.

       for ( [expression1] ; [expression2] ; [expression3] ) statement
          The for statement controls repeated execution of the  statement.
          Expression1 is evaluated before the loop.     Expression2 is evalu-
          ated before each execution of the statement.  If it is non-zero,
          the  statement  is evaluated.  If it is zero, the loop is termi-
          nated.  After each execution of the  statement,  expression3  is
          evaluated     before     the  reevaluation of expression2.  If expres-
          sion1 or expression3 are missing, nothing is  evaluated  at  the
          point they would be evaluated.  If expression2 is missing, it is
          the same as substituting the  value  1  for  expression2.      (The
          optional    expressions  are  an  extension. POSIX bc requires all
          three expressions.)  The following is equivalent    code  for  the
          for statement:
          expression1;
          while (expression2) {
         statement;
         expression3;
          }

       break  This statement causes a forced exit of the most recent enclosing
          while statement or for statement.

       continue
          The continue statement (an extension)  causes  the  most    recent
          enclosing for statement to start the next iteration.

       halt   The  halt statement (an extension) is an executed statement that
          causes the bc processor to quit only when it is  executed.   For
          example,    "if  (0     ==  1)     halt"    will not cause bc to terminate
          because the halt is not executed.

       return Return the value 0 from a function.  (See the section  on     func-
          tions.)

       return ( expression )
          Return  the  value  of the expression from a function.  (See the
          section on functions.)  As an extension, the parenthesis are not
          required.

   PSEUDO STATEMENTS
       These statements are not statements in the traditional sense.  They are
       not executed statements.     Their    function  is  performed     at  "compile"
       time.

       limits Print  the  local     limits     enforced  by the local version of bc.
          This is an extension.

       quit   When the quit statement is read, the bc processor is terminated,
          regardless  of  where the quit statement is found.  For example,
          "if (0 == 1) quit" will cause bc to terminate.

       warranty
          Print a longer warranty notice.  This is an extension.

   FUNCTIONS
       Functions provide a method of defining a computation that can  be  exe-
       cuted  later.   Functions in bc always compute a value and return it to
       the caller.  Function definitions are "dynamic" in  the    sense  that  a
       function     is  undefined until a definition is encountered in the input.
       That definition is then used until another definition function for  the
       same  name  is encountered.  The new definition then replaces the older
       definition.  A function is defined as follows:
          define name ( parameters ) { newline
          auto_list   statement_list }
       A function call is just an expression of the form "name(parameters)".

       Parameters are numbers or arrays (an extension).     In the function defi-
       nition, zero or more parameters are defined by listing their names sep-
       arated by commas.  All parameters are call by value parameters.    Arrays
       are  specified  in  the    parameter definition by the notation "name[]".
       In the function call, actual parameters are full expressions for number
       parameters.  The same notation is used for passing arrays as for defin-
       ing array parameters.  The named array is passed by value to the     func-
       tion.   Since  function    definitions are dynamic, parameter numbers and
       types are checked when a function is called.  Any mismatch in number or
       types  of  parameters will cause a runtime error.  A runtime error will
       also occur for the call to an undefined function.

       The auto_list is an optional list of variables  that  are  for  "local"
       use.   The  syntax of the auto list (if present) is "auto name, ... ;".
       (The semicolon is optional.)  Each name is the name of  an  auto     vari-
       able.   Arrays  may  be specified by using the same notation as used in
       parameters.  These variables have their values pushed onto a  stack  at
       the  start of the function.  The variables are then initialized to zero
       and used throughout the execution of the function.  At  function     exit,
       these  variables     are popped so that the original value (at the time of
       the function call) of these variables are restored.  The parameters are
       really  auto  variables that are initialized to a value provided in the
       function call.  Auto variables are  different  than  traditional     local
       variables because if function A calls function B, B may access function
       A’s auto variables by just using the same name, unless function    B  has
       called  them  auto  variables.  Due to the fact that auto variables and
       parameters are pushed onto a stack, bc supports recursive functions.

       The function body is a list of bc statements.   Again,  statements  are
       separated  by semicolons or newlines.  Return statements cause the ter-
       mination of a function and the return of a value.  There are  two  ver-
       sions  of  the return statement.     The first form, "return", returns the
       value 0 to the calling expression.  The second form, "return (  expres-
       sion )", computes the value of the expression and returns that value to
       the calling expression.    There is an implied "return (0)" at the end of
       every function.    This allows a function to terminate and return 0 with-
       out an explicit return statement.

       Functions also change the usage of the variable ibase.    All  constants
       in  the function body will be converted using the value of ibase at the
       time of the function call.  Changes of ibase will be ignored during the
       execution  of the function except for the standard function read, which
       will always use the current value of ibase for conversion of numbers.

       Several extensions have been added to functions.     First, the format  of
       the  definition    has  been slightly relaxed.  The standard requires the
       opening brace be on the same line as the define keyword and  all     other
       parts  must  be    on following lines.  This version of bc will allow any
       number of newlines before and after the opening brace of the  function.
       For example, the following definitions are legal.

          define d (n) { return (2*n); }
          define d (n)
        { return (2*n); }

       Functions  may be defined as void.  A void funtion returns no value and
       thus may not be used in any place that needs a value.  A void  function
       does  not  produce  any    output when called by itself on an input line.
       The key word void is placed between the key word define and  the     func-
       tion name.  For example, consider the following session.

          define py (y) { print "--->", y, "<---", "0; }
          define void px (x) { print "--->", x, "<---", "0; }
          py(1)
          --->1<---
          0
          px(1)
          --->1<---
       Since  py  is not a void function, the call of py(1) prints the desired
       output and then prints a second line that is the value of the function.
       Since  the  value  of  a     function that is not given an explicit return
       statement is zero, the zero is printed.    For px(1), no zero is  printed
       because the function is a void function.

       Also,  call  by    variable  for  arrays was added.  To declare a call by
       variable array, the declaration of the array parameter in the  function
       definition  looks like "*name[]".  The call to the function remains the
       same as call by value arrays.

   MATH LIBRARY
       If bc is invoked with the -l option, a math library  is    preloaded  and
       the  default  scale  is    set to 20.   The math functions will calculate
       their results to the scale set at the time of  their  call.   The  math
       library defines the following functions:

       s (x)  The sine of x, x is in radians.

       c (x)  The cosine of x, x is in radians.

       a (x)  The arctangent of x, arctangent returns radians.

       l (x)  The natural logarithm of x.

       e (x)  The exponential function of raising e to the value x.

       j (n,x)
          The Bessel function of integer order n of x.

   EXAMPLES
       In  /bin/sh,   the following will assign the value of "pi" to the shell
       variable pi.

          pi=$(echo "scale=10; 4*a(1)" | bc -l)

       The following is the definition of the exponential function used in the
       math library.  This function is written in POSIX bc.

          scale = 20

          /* Uses the fact that e^x = (e^(x/2))^2
         When x is small enough, we use the series:
           e^x = 1 + x + x^2/2! + x^3/3! + ...
          */

          define e(x) {
        auto  a, d, e, f, i, m, v, z

        /* Check the sign of x. */
        if (x<0) {
          m = 1
          x = -x
        }

        /* Precondition x. */
        z = scale;
        scale = 4 + z + .44*x;
        while (x > 1) {
          f += 1;
          x /= 2;
        }

        /* Initialize the variables. */
        v = 1+x
        a = x
        d = 1

        for (i=2; 1; i++) {
          e = (a *= x) / (d *= i)
          if (e == 0) {
            if (f>0) while (f--)  v = v*v;
            scale = z
            if (m) return (1/v);
            return (v/1);
          }
          v += e
        }
          }

       The  following  is code that uses the extended features of bc to imple-
       ment a simple program for calculating checkbook balances.  This program
       is best kept in a file so that it can be used many times without having
       to retype it at every use.

          scale=2
          print "\nCheck book program!\n"
          print "  Remember, deposits are negative transactions.\n"
          print "  Exit by a 0 transaction.\n\n"

          print "Initial balance? "; bal = read()
          bal /= 1
          print "\n"
          while (1) {
        "current balance = "; bal
        "transaction? "; trans = read()
        if (trans == 0) break;
        bal -= trans
        bal /= 1
          }
          quit

       The following is the definition of the recursive factorial function.

          define f (x) {
        if (x <= 1) return (1);
        return (f(x-1) * x);
          }

   READLINE AND LIBEDIT OPTIONS
       GNU bc can be compiled (via a configure option) to use the GNU readline
       input  editor library or the BSD libedit library.  This allows the user
       to do editing of lines before sending them to bc.  It also allows for a
       history    of previous lines typed.  When this option is selected, bc has
       one more special variable.  This special variable, history is the  num-
       ber  of    lines  of history retained.  For readline, a value of -1 means
       that an unlimited number of history lines are  retained.      Setting  the
       value  of  history to a positive number restricts the number of history
       lines to the number given.  The value of 0 disables  the     history  fea-
       ture.   The  default  value is 100. For more information, read the user
       manuals for the GNU readline, history and BSD libedit  libraries.   One
       can not enable both readline and libedit at the same time.

   DIFFERENCES
       This version of bc was implemented from the POSIX P1003.2/D11 draft and
       contains several differences and extensions relative to the  draft  and
       traditional  implementations.  It is not implemented in the traditional
       way using dc(1).     This version is a single  process  which  parses  and
       runs  a    byte  code  translation     of the program.  There is an "undocu-
       mented" option (-c) that causes the program to output the byte code  to
       the  standard  output  instead  of  running it.    It was mainly used for
       debugging the parser and preparing the math library.

       A major source  of  differences    is  extensions,     where    a  feature  is
       extended     to  add  more functionality and additions, where new features
       are added.  The following is the list of differences and extensions.

       LANG environment
          This version does not conform to the POSIX standard in the  pro-
          cessing  of  the    LANG  environment variable and all environment
          variables starting with LC_.

       names  Traditional and POSIX bc have single letter names for functions,
          variables and arrays.  They have been extended to be multi-char-
          acter names that start with a letter and    may  contain  letters,
          numbers and the underscore character.

       Strings
          Strings  are  not allowed to contain NUL characters.  POSIX says
          all characters must be included in strings.

       last   POSIX bc does not have a last variable.  Some implementations of
          bc use the period (.) in a similar way.

       comparisons
          POSIX  bc allows comparisons only in the if statement, the while
          statement, and the  second  expression  of  the  for  statement.
          Also,  only one relational operation is allowed in each of those
          statements.

       if statement, else clause
          POSIX bc does not have an else clause.

       for statement
          POSIX bc requires all expressions     to  be     present  in  the  for
          statement.

       &&, ||, !
          POSIX bc does not have the logical operators.

       read function
          POSIX bc does not have a read function.

       print statement
          POSIX bc does not have a print statement .

       continue statement
          POSIX bc does not have a continue statement.

       return statement
          POSIX bc requires parentheses around the return expression.

       array parameters
          POSIX  bc does not (currently) support array parameters in full.
          The POSIX grammar allows for arrays in function definitions, but
          does  not     provide  a  method  to     specify an array as an actual
          parameter.  (This is most likely an oversight in    the  grammar.)
          Traditional  implementations of bc have only call by value array
          parameters.

       function format
          POSIX bc requires the opening brace on  the  same     line  as  the
          define key word and the auto statement on the next line.

       =+, =-, =*, =/, =%, =^
          POSIX bc does not require these "old style" assignment operators
          to be defined.  This version may allow these "old style" assign-
          ments.  Use the limits statement to see if the installed version
          supports them.  If it does support the  "old  style"  assignment
          operators,  the statement "a =- 1" will decrement a by 1 instead
          of setting a to the value -1.

       spaces in numbers
          Other implementations of bc allow spaces in numbers.  For     exam-
          ple,  "x=1  3" would assign the value 13 to the variable x.  The
          same statement would cause a syntax error in this version of bc.

       errors and execution
          This  implementation  varies from other implementations in terms
          of what code will be executed when syntax and other  errors  are
          found  in the program.  If a syntax error is found in a function
          definition, error recovery tries to  find     the  beginning     of  a
          statement     and  continue    to  parse the function.     Once a syntax
          error is found  in  the  function,  the  function     will  not  be
          callable    and  becomes undefined.     Syntax errors in the interac-
          tive execution code will invalidate the current execution block.
          The execution block is terminated by an end of line that appears
          after a complete sequence of statements.    For example,
          a = 1
          b = 2
       has two execution blocks and
          { a = 1
        b = 2 }
       has one execution block.     Any runtime error will terminate  the    execu-
       tion of the current execution block.  A runtime warning will not termi-
       nate the current execution block.

       Interrupts
          During an interactive session, the SIGINT signal (usually gener-
          ated  by    the  control-C character from the terminal) will cause
          execution of the current execution block to be interrupted.   It
          will  display  a    "runtime"  error indicating which function was
          interrupted.  After all runtime structures have been cleaned up,
          a     message  will    be printed to notify the user that bc is ready
          for more input.  All previously defined functions remain defined
          and  the    value  of  all non-auto variables are the value at the
          point of interruption.  All auto variables and function  parame-
          ters  are     removed  during  the clean up process.     During a non-
          interactive session, the SIGINT signal will terminate the entire
          run of bc.

   LIMITS
       The  following are the limits currently in place for this bc processor.
       Some of them may have been changed by an installation.  Use the    limits
       statement to see the actual values.

       BC_BASE_MAX
          The  maximum  output  base is currently set at 999.  The maximum
          input base is 16.

       BC_DIM_MAX
          This is currently an arbitrary limit of  65535  as  distributed.
          Your installation may be different.

       BC_SCALE_MAX
          The  number  of  digits  after  the  decimal point is limited to
          INT_MAX digits.  Also, the number of digits before  the  decimal
          point is limited to INT_MAX digits.

       BC_STRING_MAX
          The  limit  on  the  number of characters in a string is INT_MAX
          characters.

       exponent
          The value of the exponent in the raise operation (^) is  limited
          to LONG_MAX.

       variable names
          The  current  limit  on  the number of unique names is 32767 for
          each of simple variables, arrays and functions.

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
       The following environment variables are processed by bc:

       POSIXLY_CORRECT
          This is the same as the -s option.

       BC_ENV_ARGS
          This is another mechanism to get arguments to bc.     The format is
          the  same     as  the  command line arguments.  These arguments are
          processed first, so any files listed in  the  environment     argu-
          ments  are  processed  before  any  command line argument files.
          This allows the user to set up "standard" options and  files  to
          be  processed at every invocation of bc.    The files in the envi-
          ronment variables would typically contain     function  definitions
          for functions the user wants defined every time bc is run.

       BC_LINE_LENGTH
          This should be an integer specifying the number of characters in
          an output line for numbers. This includes the backslash and new-
          line characters for long numbers.     As an extension, the value of
          zero disables the multi-line feature.  Any other value  of  this
          variable that is less than 3 sets the line length to 70.

DIAGNOSTICS
       If  any file on the command line can not be opened, bc will report that
       the file is unavailable and terminate.  Also, there are compile and run
       time diagnostics that should be self-explanatory.

BUGS
       Error recovery is not very good yet.

       Email  bug  reports  to    bug-bc@gnu.org.      Be  sure to include the word
       ‘‘bc’’ somewhere in the ‘‘Subject:’’ field.

AUTHOR
       Philip A. Nelson
       philnelson@acm.org

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
       The author would like to thank  Steve  Sommars  (Steve.Sommars@att.com)
       for  his extensive help in testing the implementation.  Many great sug-
       gestions were given.  This is a much better product due to his involve-
       ment.



GNU Project              2006-06-11                 bc(1)

转载于:https://my.oschina.net/vimer/blog/134382

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