--- layout: page author: Alessandro Luini category-page: advanced category-title: Advanced commands tags: calculator sum add substract divide calculate compute title: bc ---

In computing, bc is a command in Unix operating systems that can do easy calculations in the shell.
Usually input are passed using the echo command and pipes. The name stands for Basic Calculator.

echo "(12 / 2 - 3) * 3 + 1.5" | bc
    10.5

Interactive mode

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 -i flag and no parameter.
To exit the interactive mode, write quit.
bc -i

1+1
    2
(12 / 2 - 3) * 3 + 1.5
    10.2
quit