1BCAL(1) User Commands BCAL(1)
2
6 bcal - Storage expression calculator.
7
9 bcal [-c N] [-f loc] [-s bytes] [expr] [N [unit]] [-b [expr]] [-m] [-d]
10 [-h]
11
13 bcal (Byte CALculator) is a command-line utility to help with numerical
14 calculations and expressions involving data storage units, addressing,
15 base conversion etc. It invokes GNU bc for non-storage expressions.
16 bcal follows Ubuntu's standard unit conversion and notation policy:
18 https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UnitsPolicy
19
21 * evaluate arithmetic expressions involving storage units
22 * perform general purpose calculations (using bc)
23 * convert to IEC/SI standard data storage units
24 * interactive mode with the last valid result stored for reuse
25 * show the address in bytes
26 * show address as LBA:OFFSET
27 * convert CHS to LBA and vice versa
28 * base conversion to binary, decimal and hex
29 * custom sector size, max heads/cylinder and max sectors/track
30 * minimal dependencies
31
33 1. Interactive mode: bcal enters the REPL mode if no arguments are
34 provided. Storage unit conversion, base conversion and expression
35 evaluation are supported in this mode. The last valid result is
36 stored in the variable r.
37 2. Expression: Expression passed as argument in one-shot mode must be
39 within double quotes. Inner spaces are ignored. Supported opera‐
40 tors: +, -, *, /, % and C bitwise operators (except ~ due to stor‐
41 age width dependency).
42 3. N [unit]: N can be a decimal or '0x' prefixed hex value. unit can
44 be B/KiB/MiB/GiB/TiB/kB/MB/GB/TB following Ubuntu policy. Default
45 is byte. As all of these tokens are unique, unit is case-insensi‐
46 tive.
47 4. Numeric representation: Decimal and hex are recognized in expres‐
49 sions and unit conversions. Binary is also recognized in other
50 operations.
51 5. Syntax: Prefix hex inputs with '0x', binary inputs with '0b'.
53 6. Precision: 128 bits if __uint128_t is available or 64 bits for
55 numerical conversions. Floating point operations use long double.
56 Negative values in storage expressions are unsupported. Only 64-bit
57 operating systems are supported.
58 7. Fractional bytes do not exist, because they can't be addressed.
60 bcal shows the floor value of non-integer bytes.
61 8. CHS and LBA syntax:
63 - LBA: 'lLBA-MAX_HEAD-MAX_SECTOR' [NOTE: LBA starts with 'l'
64 (case ignored)]
65 - CHS: 'cC-H-S-MAX_HEAD-MAX_SECTOR' [NOTE: CHS starts with 'c'
66 (case ignored)]
67 - Format conversion arguments must be hyphen separated.
68 - Any unspecified value, including the one preceding the first
69 '-' to the one following the last '-', is considered '0' (zero).
70 - Examples:
71 - 'c-50--0x12-' -> C = 0, H = 50, S = 0, MH = 0x12, MS = 0
72 - 'l50-0x12' -> LBA = 50, MH = 0x12, MS = 0
73 9. Default values:
75 - sector size: 0x200 (512)
76 - max heads per cylinder: 0x10 (16)
77 - max sectors per track: 0x3f (63)
78 10. bc variables: scale = 10, ibase = 10. last and r are synced when
80 toggling bc mode. bc is not called in minimal output mode.
81
83 -c=N Show decimal, binary and hex representation of positive integer
84 N.
85 -f=loc Convert CHS to LBA or LBA to CHS. loc is hyphen-separated repre‐
87 sentation of LBA or CHS. Please refer to the Operational Notes
88 section for more details.
89 -s=bytes
91 Sector size in bytes. Default value is 512.
92 -b=[expr]
94 Start in bc mode. If expression is provided, evaluate in bc and
95 quit.
96 -m Show minimal output (e.g. decimal bytes).
98 -d Enable debug information and logs.
100 -h Show program help, storage sizes on the system and exit.
102
104 b Toggle bc mode.
105 r Show result from last operation.
107 s Show sizes of storage types.
109 ? Show prompt help.
111 q, double Enter
113 Quit the program.
114
116 1. Evaluate arithmetic expression of storage units
117 $ bcal "(5kb+2mb)/3"
119 $ bcal "5 tb / 12"
120 $ bcal "2.5mb*3"
121 $ bcal "(2giB * 2) / (2kib >> 2)"
122 2. Convert storage capacity to other units and get address, LBA.
124 $ bcal 20140115 b
126 $ bcal 0x1335053 B
127 $ bcal 0xaabbcc kb
128 $ bcal 0xdef Gib
129 Note that the units are case-insensitive.
130 3. Convert storage capacity, set sector size to 4096 to calculate LBA.
132 $ bcal 0xaabbcc kb -s 4096
134 4. Convert LBA to CHS.
136 $ bcal -f l500
138 $ bcal -f l0x600-18-0x7e
139 $ bcal -f l0x300-0x12-0x7e
140 5. Convert CHS to LBA.
142 $ bcal -f c10-10-10
144 $ bcal -f c0x10-0x10-0x10
145 $ bcal -f c0x10-10-2-0x12
146 $ bcal -f c-10-2-0x12
147 $ bcal -f c0x10-10--0x12
148 6. Show binary, decimal and hex representations of a number.
150 $ bcal -c 20140115
152 $ bcal -c 0b1001100110101000001010011
153 $ bcal -c 0x1335053
154 bcal> c 20140115 // Interactive mode
155 7. Invoke bc.
157 $ bcal -b '3.5 * 2.1 + 5.7'
159 bcal> b // Interactive mode
160 bc vars: scale = 10, ibase = 10, last = r
161 bc> 3.5 * 2.1 + 5.7
162
164 Arun Prakash Jana <engineerarun@gmail.com>
165
167 https://github.com/jarun/bcal
168
170 https://github.com/jarun/bcal/issues
171
173 Copyright © 2016 Arun Prakash Jana <engineerarun@gmail.com>
174 License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later
176 <http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.
177 This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.
178 There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.
179Version 2.1 11 Dec 2018 BCAL(1)