Name
dc
Synopsis
dc [file
]
An interactive desk calculator program that performs
arbitrary-precision integer arithmetic (input may be taken from a
file
). Normally you don’t
run dc
directly because it’s
invoked by bc
(see bc
).
dc
provides a variety of one-character commands
and operators that perform arithmetic; dc
works
like a Reverse Polish calculator; therefore, operators and commands
follow the numbers they affect. Operators include
+
-
/
*
%
^
(as in
C, although ^
means exponentiation); some simple
commands include:
-
p
Print current result.
-
q
Quit
dc
.-
c
Clear all values on the stack.
-
v
Take square root.
-
i
Change input base; similar to
bc
’sibase
.-
o
Change output base; similar to
bc
’sobase
.-
k
Set scale factor (number of digits after decimal); similar to
bc
’sscale
.-
!
Remainder of line is a Unix command.
Examples
3 2 ^ p
Evaluate 3 squared, then print result 98 * p
Current value (9) times 8, then print result 7247 - p
Subtract 47 from 72, then print result 25v p
Square root of 25, then print result 52 o p
Display current result in base 2 101
Spaces aren’t needed except between numbers.
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