1calc(1) General Commands Manual calc(1)
2
6 calc - arbitrary precision calculator
7
9 calc [-c] [-C] [-d]
10 [-D calc_debug[:resource_debug[:user_debug]]]
11 [-e] [-h] [-i] [-m mode] [-O]
12 [-p] [-q] [-s] [-u] [-v] [[--] calc_cmd ...]
13 #!/usr/bin/calc [other_flags ...] -f
15
17 CALC OPTIONS
19 -c Continue reading command lines even after a scan/parse error has
21 caused the abandonment of a line. Note that this option only
22 deals with scanning and parsing of the calc language. It does
23 not deal with execution or run-time errors.
24 For example:
26 calc read many_errors.cal
28 will cause calc to abort on the first syntax error, whereas:
30 calc -c read many_errors.cal
32 will cause calc to try to process each line being read despite
34 the scan/parse errors that it encounters.
35 By default, calc startup resource files are silently ignored if
37 not found. This flag will report missing startup resource files
38 unless -d is also given.
39 -C Permit the execution of custom builtin functions. Without this
42 flag, calling the custom() builtin function will simply generate
43 an error.
44 Use of this flag may cause calc to execute functions that are
46 non-standard and that are not portable. Custom builtin func‐
47 tions are disabled by default for this reason.
48 -d Disable the printing of the opening title. The printing of
51 resource file debug and informational messages is also disabled
52 as if config("resource_debug", 0) had been executed.
53 For example:
55 calc "read qtime; qtime(2)"
57 will output something like:
59 qtime(utc_hr_offset) defined
61 It's nearly ten past six.
62 whereas:
64 calc -d "read qtime; qtime(2)"
66 will just say:
68 It's nearly ten past six.
70 This flag disables the reporting of missing calc startup
72 resource files.
73 -D calc_debug[:resource_debug[:user_debug]]
76 Force the initial value of config("calc_debug"), con‐
77 fig("resource_debug") and config("user_debug").
78 The : separated strings are interpreted as signed 32 bit inte‐
80 gers. After an optional leading sign a leading zero indicates
81 octal conversion, and a leading ``0x'' or ``0X'' hexadecimal
82 conversion. Otherwise, decimal conversion is assumed.
83 By default, calc_debug is 0, resource_debug is 3 and user_debug
85 is 0.
86 For more information use the following calc command:
88 help config
90 -e Ignore any environment variables on startup. The getenv()
93 builtin will still return values, however.
94 -f This flag is required when using calc in shell script mode. It
97 must be at the end of the initial #! line of the script.
98 This flag is normally only at the end of a calc shell script.
100 If the first line of an executable file begins #! followed by
101 the absolute pathname of the calc program and the flag -f as in:
102 #!/usr/bin/calc [other_flags ...] -f
104 the rest of the file will be processed in shell script mode.
106 See SHELL SCRIPT MODE section of this man page below for
107 details.
108 The actual form of this flag is:
110 -f filename
112 On systems that treat an executable that begins with #! as a
114 script, the path of the executable is appended by the kernel as
115 the final argument to the exec() system call. This is why the
116 -f flag at the very end of the #! line.
117 It is possible use -f filename on the command line:
119 calc [other_flags ...] -f filename
121 This will cause calc to process lines in filename in shell
123 script mode.
124 Use of -f implies -s. In addition, -d and -p are implied if -i
126 is not given.
127 -h Print a help message. This option implies -q. This is equiva‐
130 lent to the calc command help help. The help facility is dis‐
131 abled unless the mode is 5 or 7. See -m.
132 -i Become interactive if possible. If calc_cmd args are given,
135 calc by default, calc will execute them and exit. This flag
136 causes calc to drop into interactive mode after the commands are
137 executed. This flag will cause calc to drop into interactive
138 mode after the commands are executed.
139 For example:
141 calc 2+5
143 will print the value 7 and exit whereas:
145 calc -i 2+5
147 will print the value 7 and prompt the user for more calc com‐
149 mands.
150 -m mode
153 This flag sets the permission mode of calc. It controls the
154 ability for calc to open files and execute programs. Mode may
155 be a number from 0 to 7.
156 The mode value is interpreted in a way similar to that of the
158 chmod(1) octal mode:
159 0 do not open any file, do not execute progs
161 1 do not open any file
162 2 do not open files for reading, do not execute progs
163 3 do not open files for reading
164 4 do not open files for writing, do not execute progs
165 5 do not open files for writing
166 6 do not execute any program
167 7 allow everything (default mode)
168 If one wished to run calc from a privileged user, one might want
170 to use -m 0 in an effort to make calc somewhat more secure.
171 Mode bits for reading and writing apply only on an open. Files
173 already open are not effected. Thus if one wanted to use the -m
174 0 in an effort to make calc somewhat more secure, but still
175 wanted to read and write a specific file, one might want to do
176 in sh(1), ksh(1), bash(1)-like shells:
177 calc -m 0 3<a.file
179 Files presented to calc in this way are opened in an unknown
181 mode. Calc will attempt to read or write them if directed.
182 If the mode disables opening of files for reading, then the
184 startup resource files are disabled as if -q was given. The
185 reading of key bindings is also disabled when the mode disables
186 opening of files for reading.
187 -O Use the old classic defaults instead of the default configura‐
190 tion. This flag as the same effect as executing config("all",
191 "oldcfg") at startup time.
192 NOTE: Older versions of calc used -n to setup a modified form of
194 the default calc configuration. The -n flag currently does
195 nothing. Use of the -n flag is now deprecated and may be used
196 for something else in the future.
197 -p Pipe processing is enabled by use of -p. For example:
200 calc -p "2^21701-1" | fizzbin
202 In pipe mode, calc does not prompt, does not print leading tabs
204 and does not print the initial header. The -p flag overrides
205 -i.
206 -q Disable the reading of the startup scripts.
209 -s By default, all calc_cmd args are evaluated and executed. This
212 flag will disable their evaluation and instead make them avail‐
213 able as strings for the argv() builtin function.
214 -u Disable buffering of stdin and stdout.
217 -v Print the calc version number and exit.
220 -- The double dash indicates to calc that no more option follow.
223 Thus calc will ignore a later argument on the command line even
224 if it starts with a dash. This is useful when entering negative
225 values on the command line as in:
226 calc -p -- -1 - -7
228 CALC COMMAND LINE
233 With no calc_cmd arguments, calc operates interactively. If one or
235 more arguments are given on the command line and -s is NOT given, then
236 calc will read and execute them and either attempt to go interactive
237 according as the -i flag was present or absent.
238 If -s is given, calc will not evaluate any calc_cmd arguments but
240 instead make them available as strings to the argv() builtin function.
241 Sufficiently simple commands with no no characters like parentheses,
243 brackets, semicolons, '*', which have special interpretations in UNIX
244 shells may be entered, possibly with spaces, until the terminating new‐
245 line. For example:
246 calc 23 + 47
248 will print 70. However, command lines will have problems:
250 calc 23 * 47
252 calc -23 + 47
254 The first example above fails because the shell interprets the '*' as a
256 file glob. The second example fails because '-23' is viewed as a calc
257 option (which it is not) and do calc objects to that it thinks of as an
258 unknown option. These cases can usually be made to work as expected by
259 enclosing the command between quotes:
260 calc '23 * 47'
262 calc "print sqrt(2), exp(1)"
264 or in parentheses and quotes to avoid leading -'s as in:
266 calc '(-23 + 47)'
268 One may also use a double dash to denote that calc options have ended
270 as in:
271 calc -- -23 + 47
273 calc -q -- -23 + 47
275 If '!' is to be used to indicate the factorial function, for shells
277 like csh[4m(1) for which '!' followed by a non-space character is used for
278 history substitution, it may be necessary to include a space or use a
279 backslash to escape the special meaning of '!'. For example, the com‐
280 mand:
281 print 27!^2
283 may have to be replaced by:
285 print 27! ^2 or print 27^2
287 CALC STARTUP FILES
290 Normally on startup, if the environment variable $CALCRC is undefined
292 and calc is invoked without the -q flag, or if $CALCRC is defined and
293 calc is invoked with -e, calc looks for a file "startup" in the calc
294 resource directory .calcrc in the user's home directory, and .calcinit
295 in the current directory. If one or more of these are found, they are
296 read in succession as calc scripts and their commands executed. When
297 defined, $CALCRC is to contain a ':' separated list of names of files,
298 and if calc is then invoked without either the -q or -e flags, these
299 files are read in succession and their commands executed. No error
300 condition is produced if a listed file is not found.
301 If the mode specified by -m disables opening of files for reading, then
303 the reading of startup files is also disabled as if -q was given.
304 CALC FILE SEARCH PATH
307 If the environment variable $CALCPATH is undefined, or if it is defined
309 and calc is invoked with the -e flag, when a file name not beginning
310 with /, ~ or ./, is specified as in:
311 calc read myfile
313 calc searches in succession:
315 /usr/lib64/myfile
317 /usr/lib64/myfile.cal
318 /usr/share/calc/custom/myfile
319 /usr/share/calc/custom/myfile.cal
320 If the file is found, the search stops and the commands in the file are
322 executed. It is an error if no readable file with the specified name
323 is found. An alternative search path can be specified by defining
324 $CALCPATH in the same way as PATH is defined, as a ':' separated list
325 of directories, and then invoking calc without the -e flag.
326 Calc treats all open files, other than stdin, stdout and stderr as
328 files available for reading and writing. One may present calc with an
329 already open file using sh(1), ksh(1), bash(1)-like shells is to:
330 calc 3<open_file 4<open_file2
332 For more information use the following calc commands:
334 help help
336 help overview
337 help usage
338 help environment
339 help config
340 SHELL SCRIPT MODE
344 If the first line of an executable file begins #! followed by the
346 absolute pathname of the calc program and the flag -f as in:
347 #!/usr/bin/calc [other_flags ...] -f
349 the rest of the file will be processed in shell script mode. Note that
351 -f must at the end of the initial ``#!'' line. Any other optional
352 other_flags must come before the -f.
353 In shell script mode the contents of the file are read and executed as
355 if they were in a file being processed by a read command, except that a
356 "command" beginning with '#' followed by whitespace and ending at the
357 next newline is treated as a comment. Any optional other_flags will be
358 parsed first followed by the later lines within the script itself.
359 In shell script mode, -s is always assumed. In addition, -d and -p are
361 automatically set if -i is not given.
362 For example, if the file /tmp/mersenne:
364 #!/usr/bin/calc -q -f
366 #
367 # mersenne - an example of a calc shell script file
368 /* parse args */
370 if (argv() != 1) {
371 fprintf(files(2), "usage: %s exp\n", config("program"));
372 abort "must give one exponent arg";
373 }
374 /* print the mersenne number */
376 print "2^": argv(0) : "-1 =", 2^eval(argv(0))-1;
377 is made an executable file by:
379 chmod +x /tmp/mersenne
381 then the command line:
383 /tmp/mersenne 127
385 will print:
387 2^127-1 = 170141183460469231731687303715884105727
389 Note that because -s is assumed in shell script mode and non-dashed
391 args are made available as strings via the argv() builtin function.
392 Therefore:
393 2^eval(argv(0))-1
395 will print the decimal value of 2^n-1 but
397 2^argv(0)-1
399 will not.
401 DATA TYPES
404 Fundamental builtin data types include integers, real numbers, rational
406 numbers, complex numbers and strings.
407 By use of an object, one may define an arbitrarily complex data types.
409 One may define how such objects behave a wide range of operations such
410 as addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, negation, squaring,
411 modulus, rounding, exponentiation, equality, comparison, printing and
412 so on.
413 For more information use the following calc commands:
415 help types
417 help obj
418 show objfuncs
419 VARIABLES
422 Variables in calc are typeless. In other words, the fundamental type
424 of a variable is determined by its content. Before a variable is
425 assigned a value it has the value of zero.
426 The scope of a variable may be global, local to a file, or local to a
428 procedure. Values may be grouped together in a matrix, or into a a
429 list that permits stack and queue style operations.
430 For more information use the following calc commands:
432 help variable
434 help mat
435 help list
436 show globals
437 INPUT/OUTPUT
440 A leading ``0x'' implies a hexadecimal value, a leading ``0b'' implies
442 a binary value, and a ``0'' followed by a digit implies an octal value.
443 Complex numbers are indicated by a trailing ``i'' such as in ``3+4i''.
444 Strings may be delimited by either a pair of single or double quotes.
445 By default, calc prints values as if they were floating point numbers.
446 One may change the default to print values in a number of modes includ‐
447 ing fractions, integers and exponentials.
448 A number of stdio-like file I/O operations are provided. One may open,
450 read, write, seek and close files. Filenames are subject to `` ''
451 expansion to home directories in a way similar to that of the Korn or
452 C-Shell.
453 For example:
455 ~/.calcrc
457 ~chongo/lib/fft_multiply.cal
458 For more information use the following calc command:
460 help file
462 CALC LANGUAGE
465 The calc language is a C-like language. The language includes commands
467 such as variable declarations, expressions, tests, labels, loops, file
468 operations, function calls. These commands are very similar to their
469 counterparts in C.
470 The language also include a number of commands particular to calc
472 itself. These include commands such as function definition, help,
473 reading in resource files, dump files to a file, error notification,
474 configuration control and status.
475 For more information use the following calc command:
477 help command
479 help statement
480 help expression
481 help operator
482 help config
483
485 /usr/bin/calc
487 calc binary
488 /usr/share/calc/cscript/*
490 calc shell scripts
491 /usr/lib64/*.cal
493 calc standard resource files
494 /usr/lib64/help/*
496 help files
497 /usr/lib64/bindings
499 non-GNU-readline command line editor bindings
500 /usr/include/calc/*.h
502 include files for C interface use
503 /usr/lib64/libcalc.a
505 calc binary link library
506 /usr/lib64/libcustcalc.a
508 custom binary link library
509 /usr/share/calc/custom/*.cal
511 custom resource files
512 /usr/share/calc/custhelp/*
514 custom help files
515
517 CALCPATH
519 A :-separated list of directories used to search for calc resource
520 filenames that do not begin with /, ./ or ~.
521 Default value: .:./cal:~/.cal:/usr/share/calc
523 CALCRC
525 On startup (unless -h or -q was given on the command line), calc
526 searches for files along this :-separated environment variable.
527 Default value: /usr/share/calc/startup:~/.calcrc:./.calcinit
529 CALCBINDINGS
531 On startup (unless -h or -q was given on the command line, or -m
532 disallows opening files for reading), calc reads key bindings from
533 the filename specified by this environment variable. The key
534 binding file is searched for along the $CALCPATH list of directo‐
535 ries.
536 Default value: binding
538 This variable is not used if calc was compiled with GNU-readline
540 support. In that case, the standard readline mechanisms (see
541 readline(3)) are used.
542
544 The main chunk of calc was written by David I. Bell.
546 The calc primary mirror, calc mailing list and calc bug report process‐
548 ing is performed by Landon Curt Noll.
549 Landon Curt Noll maintains the master reference source, performs
551 release control functions as well as other calc maintenance functions.
552 Thanks for suggestions and encouragement from Peter Miller, Neil Jus‐
554 tusson, and Landon Noll.
555 Thanks to Stephen Rothwell for writing the original version of hist.c
557 which is used to do the command line editing.
558 Thanks to Ernest W. Bowen for supplying many improvements in accuracy
560 and generality for some numeric functions. Much of this was in terms
561 of actual code which I gratefully accepted. Ernest also supplied the
562 original text for many of the help files.
563 Portions of this program are derived from an earlier set of public
565 domain arbitrarily precision routines which was posted to the net
566 around 1984. By now, there is almost no recognizable code left from
567 that original source.
568
570 Calc is open software, and is covered under version 2 of the GNU Gen‐
573 eral Public License. You are welcome to change it and/or distribute
574 copies of it under certain conditions. The calc commands:
575 help copyright
577 help copying
578 help copying-gpl
579 should display the contents of the COPYING and COPYING-GPL files.
581 Those files contain information about the calc's GNU General Public
582 License, and in particular the conditions under which you are allowed
583 to change it and/or distribute copies of it.
584 You should have received a copy of the version 2 of the GNU General
586 Public License. If you do not have these files, write to:
587 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
589 51 Franklin Street
590 Fifth Floor
591 Boston, MA 02110-1301
592 USA
593 Calc is copyrighted in several different ways. These ways include:
595 Copyright (C) year David I. Bell
597 Copyright (C) year David I. Bell and Landon Curt Noll
598 Copyright (C) year David I. Bell and Ernest Bowen
599 Copyright (C) year David I. Bell, Landon Curt Noll and Ernest Bowen
600 Copyright (C) year Landon Curt Noll
601 Copyright (C) year Ernest Bowen and Landon Curt Noll
602 Copyright (C) year Ernest Bowen
603 This man page is:
605 Copyright (C) 1999 Landon Curt Noll
607 and is covered under version 2 GNU General Public License.
609
611 To contribute comments, suggestions, enhancements and interesting calc
614 resource files, and shell scripts please join the low volume calc mail‐
615 ing list.
616 To join the low volume calc mailing list, send EMail to:
618 calc-tester-request at asthe dot com
620 Your subject must contain the words:
622 calc mailing list subscription
624 You may have additional words in your subject line.
626 Your message body must contain:
628 subscribe calc-tester address
630 end
631 name your_full_name
632 where address s your EMail address and your_full_name is your full
634 name. Feel free to follow the name line with additional EMail text as
635 desired.
636
638 Send bug reports and bug fixes to:
641 calc-bugs at asthe dot com
643 [[ NOTE: Replace 'at' with @, 'dot' is with . and remove the spaces ]]
645 [[ NOTE: The EMail address uses 'asthe' and the web site URL uses 'isthe' ]]
646 Your subject must contain the words:
648 calc bug report
650 You may have additional words in your subject line.
652 See the BUGS source file or use the calc command:
654 help bugs
656 for more information about bug reporting.
658
660 Landon Noll maintains the the calc web site is located at:
662 www.isthe.com/chongo/tech/comp/calc/
664 Share and Enjoy! :-)
6662007-02-06 ^..^ calc(1)