theshell.ch/site/pages/cmd/advanced/bc.html

38 lines
815 B
HTML
Raw Normal View History

---
layout: page
author: Alessandro Luini
category-page: advanced
category-title: Advanced commands
tags: calculator sum add substract divide calculate compute
title: bc
---
<p>
In computing, <code>bc</code> is a command in Unix operating systems that can do easy
calculations in the shell.<br>
Usually input are passed using the <code>echo</code> command and pipes.
The name stands for <i>Basic Calculator</i>.<br>
<pre>
echo "(12 / 2 - 3) * 3 + 1.5" | bc
10.5
</pre>
<h3>Interactive mode</h3>
Using the interactive mode makes you do calculations freely in a special shell inside the shell.
All you need to do is run the bc command with the <code>-i</code> flag
and no parameter.<br>
To exit the interactive mode, write <i>quit</i>.
<pre>
bc -i
1+1
2
(12 / 2 - 3) * 3 + 1.5
10.2
quit
</pre>
</p>