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 +
, -
, /
, *
, %
, and ^
(as in C, although ^
signifies 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’s ibase.
- o
Change output base; similar to bc’s obase.
- k
Set scale factor (number of digits after decimal); similar to bc’s scale.
- !
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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