bc(1)



bc(1)                       General Commands Manual                      bc(1)

NAME
       bc - An arbitrary precision calculator language

SYNTAX
       bc [ -hlwsqv ] [long-options] [  file ... ]

DESCRIPTION
       bc  is a language that supports arbitrary precision numbers with inter-
       active execution of statements.  There are  some  similarities  in  the
       syntax  to  the  C  programming  language.   A standard math library is
       available by command line option.  If requested, the  math  library  is
       defined before processing any files.  bc starts by processing code from
       all the files listed on the command line in the  order  listed.   After
       all  files  have been processed, bc reads from the standard input.  All
       code is executed as it is read.  (If a file contains a command to  halt
       the processor, bc will never read from the standard input.)

       This  version  of  bc contains several extensions beyond traditional bc
       implementations and the POSIX draft standard.  Command line options can
       cause these extensions to print a warning or to be rejected.  This doc-
       ument describes the language accepted by  this  processor.   Extensions
       will be identified as such.

   OPTIONS
       -h, --help
              Print the usage and exit.

       -i, --interactive
              Force interactive mode.

       -l, --mathlib
              Define the standard math library.

       -w, --warn
              Give warnings for extensions to POSIX bc.

       -s, --standard
              Process exactly the POSIX bc language.

       -q, --quiet
              Do not print the normal GNU bc welcome.

       -v, --version
              Print the version number and copyright and quit.

   NUMBERS
       The most basic element in bc is the number.  Numbers are arbitrary pre-
       cision numbers.  This precision is both in the  integer  part  and  the
       fractional part.  All numbers are represented internally in decimal and
       all computation is done in decimal.  (This  version  truncates  results
       from divide and multiply operations.)  There are two attributes of num-
       bers, the length and the scale.  The length is the total number of dec-
       imal digits used by bc to represent a number and the scale is the total
       number of decimal digits after the decimal point.  For example:
               .000001 has a length of 6 and scale of 6.
               1935.000 has a length of 7 and a scale of 3.

   VARIABLES
       Numbers are stored in two types of variables, simple variables and  ar-
       rays.   Both simple variables and array variables are named.  Names be-
       gin with a letter followed by any number of letters, digits and  under-
       scores.  All letters must be lower case.  (Full alpha-numeric names are
       an extension.  In POSIX bc all names are a single lower  case  letter.)
       The type of variable is clear by the context because all array variable
       names will be followed by brackets ([]).

       There are four special variables, scale, ibase, obase, and last.  scale
       defines  how  some  operations use digits after the decimal point.  The
       default value of scale is 0.  ibase and  obase  define  the  conversion
       base for input and output numbers.  The default for both input and out-
       put is base 10.  last (an extension) is a variable that has  the  value
       of  the last printed number.  These will be discussed in further detail
       where appropriate.  All of these variables may have values assigned  to
       them as well as used in expressions.

   COMMENTS
       Comments in bc start with the characters /* and end with the characters
       */.  Comments may start anywhere and appear as a single  space  in  the
       input.   (This causes comments to delimit other input items.  For exam-
       ple, a comment can not be found in the  middle  of  a  variable  name.)
       Comments  include  any newlines (end of line) between the start and the
       end of the comment.

       To support the use of scripts for bc, a single line  comment  has  been
       added  as  an extension.  A single line comment starts at a # character
       and continues to the next end of the line.  The end of  line  character
       is not part of the comment and is processed normally.

   EXPRESSIONS
       The  numbers  are manipulated by expressions and statements.  Since the
       language was designed to be interactive, statements and expressions are
       executed  as  soon  as possible.  There is no "main" program.  Instead,
       code is executed as it is encountered.  (Functions, discussed in detail
       later, are defined when encountered.)

       A  simple expression is just a constant. bc converts constants into in-
       ternal decimal numbers using the current input base, specified  by  the
       variable ibase. (There is an exception in functions.)  The legal values
       of ibase are 2 through 36. (Bases greater than 16  are  an  extension.)
       Assigning a value outside this range to ibase will result in a value of
       2 or 36.  Input numbers may contain the characters 0-9 and A-Z.  (Note:
       They must be capitals.  Lower case letters are variable names.)  Single
       digit numbers always have the value of  the  digit  regardless  of  the
       value of ibase. (i.e. A = 10.)  For multi-digit numbers, bc changes all
       input digits greater or equal to ibase to the value of  ibase-1.   This
       makes  the number ZZZ always be the largest 3 digit number of the input
       base.

       Full expressions are similar to many other high level languages.  Since
       there  is only one kind of number, there are no rules for mixing types.
       Instead, there are rules on the scale of expressions.  Every expression
       has  a  scale.  This is derived from the scale of original numbers, the
       operation performed and in many cases, the value of the variable scale.
       Legal  values  of the variable scale are 0 to the maximum number repre-
       sentable by a C integer.

       In the following descriptions of legal expressions, "expr" refers to  a
       complete  expression and "var" refers to a simple or an array variable.
       A simple variable is just a
              name
       and an array variable is specified as
              name[expr]
       Unless specifically mentioned the scale of the result  is  the  maximum
       scale of the expressions involved.

       - expr The result is the negation of the expression.

       ++ var The  variable is incremented by one and the new value is the re-
              sult of the expression.

       -- var The variable is decremented by one and the new value is the  re-
              sult of the expression.

       var ++
               The  result  of the expression is the value of the variable and
              then the variable is incremented by one.

       var -- The result of the expression is the value of  the  variable  and
              then the variable is decremented by one.

       expr + expr
              The result of the expression is the sum of the two expressions.

       expr - expr
              The  result  of  the expression is the difference of the two ex-
              pressions.

       expr * expr
              The result of the expression is the product of the  two  expres-
              sions.

       expr / expr
              The  result of the expression is the quotient of the two expres-
              sions.  The scale of the result is the  value  of  the  variable
              scale.

       expr % expr
              The  result  of the expression is the "remainder" and it is com-
              puted in the following way.  To compute a%b, first a/b  is  com-
              puted to scale digits.  That result is used to compute a-(a/b)*b
              to the scale of the maximum of scale+scale(b) and scale(a).   If
              scale  is set to zero and both expressions are integers this ex-
              pression is the integer remainder function.

       expr ^ expr
              The result of the expression is the value of the first raised to
              the  second.  The second expression must be an integer.  (If the
              second expression is not an integer, a warning is generated  and
              the expression is truncated to get an integer value.)  The scale
              of the result is scale if the exponent is negative.  If the  ex-
              ponent is positive the scale of the result is the minimum of the
              scale of the first expression times the value  of  the  exponent
              and  the maximum of scale and the scale of the first expression.
              (e.g. scale(a^b) = min(scale(a)*b, max( scale, scale(a))).)   It
              should be noted that expr^0 will always return the value of 1.

       ( expr )
              This  alters  the standard precedence to force the evaluation of
              the expression.

       var = expr
              The variable is assigned the value of the expression.

       var <op>= expr
              This is equivalent to "var = var <op> expr" with  the  exception
              that  the  "var"  part  is evaluated only once.  This can make a
              difference if "var" is an array.

       Relational expressions are a special kind  of  expression  that  always
       evaluate to 0 or 1, 0 if the relation is false and 1 if the relation is
       true.  These may appear in any legal expression.   (POSIX  bc  requires
       that  relational expressions are used only in if, while, and for state-
       ments and that only one relational test may be done in them.)  The  re-
       lational operators are

       expr1 < expr2
              The result is 1 if expr1 is strictly less than expr2.

       expr1 <= expr2
              The result is 1 if expr1 is less than or equal to expr2.

       expr1 > expr2
              The result is 1 if expr1 is strictly greater than expr2.

       expr1 >= expr2
              The result is 1 if expr1 is greater than or equal to expr2.

       expr1 == expr2
              The result is 1 if expr1 is equal to expr2.

       expr1 != expr2
              The result is 1 if expr1 is not equal to expr2.

       Boolean operations are also legal.  (POSIX bc does NOT have boolean op-
       erations).  The result of all boolean operations are 0 and 1 (for false
       and true) as in relational expressions.  The boolean operators are:

       !expr  The result is 1 if expr is 0.

       expr && expr
              The result is 1 if both expressions are non-zero.

       expr || expr
              The result is 1 if either expression is non-zero.

       The expression precedence is as follows: (lowest to highest)
              || operator, left associative
              && operator, left associative
              ! operator, nonassociative
              Relational operators, left associative
              Assignment operator, right associative
              + and - operators, left associative
              *, / and % operators, left associative
              ^ operator, right associative
              unary - operator, nonassociative
              ++ and -- operators, nonassociative

       This precedence was chosen so that POSIX compliant bc programs will run
       correctly.  This will cause the use of the relational and logical oper-
       ators  to  have some unusual behavior when used with assignment expres-
       sions.  Consider the expression:
              a = 3 < 5

       Most C programmers would assume this would assign the result of "3 < 5"
       (the  value 1) to the variable "a".  What this does in bc is assign the
       value 3 to the variable "a" and then compare 3 to 5.  It is best to use
       parenthesis  when  using  relational and logical operators with the as-
       signment operators.

       There are a few more special  expressions  that  are  provided  in  bc.
       These  have  to  do with user defined functions and standard functions.
       They all appear as "name(parameters)".  See the  section  on  functions
       for user defined functions.  The standard functions are:

       length ( expression )
              The  value  of  the length function is the number of significant
              digits in the expression.

       read ( )
              The read function (an extension) will read  a  number  from  the
              standard  input,  regardless of where the function occurs.   Be-
              ware, this can cause problems with the mixing of data  and  pro-
              gram  in  the standard input.  The best use for this function is
              in a previously written program that needs input from the  user,
              but  never  allows  program code to be input from the user.  The
              value of the read function is the number read from the  standard
              input using the current value of the variable ibase for the con-
              version base.

       scale ( expression )
              The value of the scale function is the number  of  digits  after
              the decimal point in the expression.

       sqrt ( expression )
              The value of the sqrt function is the square root of the expres-
              sion.  If the expression is negative, a run time error is gener-
              ated.

   STATEMENTS
       Statements  (as  in most algebraic languages) provide the sequencing of
       expression evaluation.  In bc statements are executed "as soon as  pos-
       sible."   Execution  happens when a newline in encountered and there is
       one or more complete statements.  Due to this immediate execution, new-
       lines  are  very important in bc.  In fact, both a semicolon and a new-
       line are used as statement separators.  An  improperly  placed  newline
       will  cause a syntax error.  Because newlines are statement separators,
       it is possible to hide a newline by using the backslash character.  The
       sequence "\<nl>", where <nl> is the newline appears to bc as whitespace
       instead of a newline.  A statement list is a series of statements sepa-
       rated by semicolons and newlines.  The following is a list of bc state-
       ments and what they do: (Things enclosed in brackets ([]) are  optional
       parts of the statement.)

       expression
              This statement does one of two things.  If the expression starts
              with "<variable> <assignment> ...", it is considered  to  be  an
              assignment  statement.   If  the expression is not an assignment
              statement, the expression is evaluated and printed to  the  out-
              put.   After  the  number is printed, a newline is printed.  For
              example, "a=1" is an assignment statement and "(a=1)" is an  ex-
              pression  that has an embedded assignment.  All numbers that are
              printed are printed in the base specified by the variable obase.
              The  legal values for obase are 2 through BC_BASE_MAX.  (See the
              section LIMITS.)  For bases 2 through 16, the  usual  method  of
              writing  numbers  is used.  For bases greater than 16, bc uses a
              multi-character digit method of printing the numbers where  each
              higher  base  digit  is printed as a base 10 number.  The multi-
              character digits are separated by spaces.  Each  digit  contains
              the  number  of  characters  required  to represent the base ten
              value of "obase-1".  Since numbers are of  arbitrary  precision,
              some  numbers  may  not  be  printable  on a single output line.
              These long numbers will be split across lines using the  "\"  as
              the  last character on a line.  The maximum number of characters
              printed per line is 70.  Due to the interactive  nature  of  bc,
              printing  a  number  causes  the  side  effect  of assigning the
              printed value to the special variable  last.   This  allows  the
              user  to recover the last value printed without having to retype
              the expression that printed the number.  Assigning  to  last  is
              legal  and  will  overwrite  the last printed value with the as-
              signed value.  The newly assigned value will  remain  until  the
              next  number  is  printed  or another value is assigned to last.
              (Some installations may allow the use of  a  single  period  (.)
              which  is  not part of a number as a short hand notation for for
              last.)

       string The string is printed to the output.  Strings start with a  dou-
              ble  quote  character  and contain all characters until the next
              double quote character.  All characters are take literally,  in-
              cluding  any newline.  No newline character is printed after the
              string.

       print list
              The print statement (an extension) provides  another  method  of
              output.   The  "list" is a list of strings and expressions sepa-
              rated by commas.  Each string or expression is  printed  in  the
              order  of the list.  No terminating newline is printed.  Expres-
              sions are evaluated and their value is printed and  assigned  to
              the  variable  last.  Strings in the print statement are printed
              to the output and may contain special characters.  Special char-
              acters  start  with  the  backslash  character (\).  The special
              characters recognized  by  bc  are  "a"  (alert  or  bell),  "b"
              (backspace),  "f"  (form feed), "n" (newline), "r" (carriage re-
              turn), "q" (double quote), "t" (tab), and "\" (backslash).   Any
              other character following the backslash will be ignored.

       { statement_list }
              This  is  the compound statement.  It allows multiple statements
              to be grouped together for execution.

       if ( expression ) statement1 [else statement2]
              The if statement evaluates the expression  and  executes  state-
              ment1  or  statement2  depending on the value of the expression.
              If the expression  is  non-zero,  statement1  is  executed.   If
              statement2 is present and the value of the expression is 0, then
              statement2 is executed.  (The else clause is an extension.)

       while ( expression ) statement
              The while statement will execute the statement while the expres-
              sion  is non-zero.  It evaluates the expression before each exe-
              cution of the statement.   Termination of the loop is caused  by
              a zero expression value or the execution of a break statement.

       for ( [expression1] ; [expression2] ; [expression3] ) statement
              The  for statement controls repeated execution of the statement.
              Expression1 is evaluated before the loop.  Expression2 is evalu-
              ated before each execution of the statement.  If it is non-zero,
              the statement is evaluated.  If it is zero, the loop  is  termi-
              nated.   After  each  execution of the statement, expression3 is
              evaluated before the reevaluation of  expression2.   If  expres-
              sion1  or  expression3  are missing, nothing is evaluated at the
              point they would be evaluated.  If expression2 is missing, it is
              the  same as substituting the value 1 for expression2.  (The op-
              tional expressions are an  extension.   POSIX  bc  requires  all
              three  expressions.)   The  following is equivalent code for the
              for statement:
              expression1;
              while (expression2) {
                 statement;
                 expression3;
              }

       break  This statement causes a forced exit of the most recent enclosing
              while statement or for statement.

       continue
              The continue statement (an extension) causes the most recent en-
              closing for statement to start the next iteration.

       halt   The halt statement (an extension) is an executed statement  that
              causes  the  bc processor to quit only when it is executed.  For
              example, "if (0 == 1) halt" will not cause bc to  terminate  be-
              cause the halt is not executed.

       return Return  the  value 0 from a function.  (See the section on func-
              tions.)

       return ( expression )
              Return the value of the expression from a  function.   (See  the
              section on functions.)  As an extension, the parenthesis are not
              required.

   PSEUDO STATEMENTS
       These statements are not statements in the traditional sense.  They are
       not  executed  statements.   Their  function  is performed at "compile"
       time.

       limits Print the local limits enforced by  the  local  version  of  bc.
              This is an extension.

       quit   When the quit statement is read, the bc processor is terminated,
              regardless of where the quit statement is found.   For  example,
              "if (0 == 1) quit" will cause bc to terminate.

       warranty
              Print a longer warranty notice.  This is an extension.

   FUNCTIONS
       Functions  provide  a method of defining a computation that can be exe-
       cuted later.  Functions in bc always compute a value and return  it  to
       the  caller.   Function  definitions  are "dynamic" in the sense that a
       function is undefined until a definition is encountered in  the  input.
       That  definition is then used until another definition function for the
       same name is encountered.  The new definition then replaces  the  older
       definition.  A function is defined as follows:
              define name ( parameters ) { newline
                  auto_list   statement_list }
       A function call is just an expression of the form "name(parameters)".

       Parameters are numbers or arrays (an extension).  In the function defi-
       nition, zero or more parameters are defined by listing their names sep-
       arated by commas.  All parameters are call by value parameters.  Arrays
       are specified in the parameter definition  by  the  notation  "name[]".
       In the function call, actual parameters are full expressions for number
       parameters.  The same notation is used for passing arrays as for defin-
       ing  array parameters.  The named array is passed by value to the func-
       tion.  Since function definitions are dynamic,  parameter  numbers  and
       types are checked when a function is called.  Any mismatch in number or
       types of parameters will cause a runtime error.  A runtime  error  will
       also occur for the call to an undefined function.

       The  auto_list  is  an  optional list of variables that are for "local"
       use.  The syntax of the auto list (if present) is "auto name,  ...  ;".
       (The  semicolon  is  optional.)  Each name is the name of an auto vari-
       able.  Arrays may be specified by using the same notation  as  used  in
       parameters.   These  variables have their values pushed onto a stack at
       the start of the function.  The variables are then initialized to  zero
       and  used  throughout the execution of the function.  At function exit,
       these variables are popped so that the original value (at the  time  of
       the function call) of these variables are restored.  The parameters are
       really auto variables that are initialized to a value provided  in  the
       function  call.   Auto  variables  are different than traditional local
       variables because if function A calls function B, B may access function
       A's  auto  variables by just using the same name, unless function B has
       called them auto variables.  Due to the fact that  auto  variables  and
       parameters are pushed onto a stack, bc supports recursive functions.

       The  function  body  is a list of bc statements.  Again, statements are
       separated by semicolons or newlines.  Return statements cause the  ter-
       mination  of  a function and the return of a value.  There are two ver-
       sions of the return statement.  The first form, "return",  returns  the
       value  0 to the calling expression.  The second form, "return ( expres-
       sion )", computes the value of the expression and returns that value to
       the calling expression.  There is an implied "return (0)" at the end of
       every function.  This allows a function to terminate and return 0 with-
       out an explicit return statement.

       Functions  also  change the usage of the variable ibase.  All constants
       in the function body will be converted using the value of ibase at  the
       time of the function call.  Changes of ibase will be ignored during the
       execution of the function except for the standard function read,  which
       will always use the current value of ibase for conversion of numbers.

       Several  extensions have been added to functions.  First, the format of
       the definition has been slightly relaxed.  The  standard  requires  the
       opening  brace  be on the same line as the define keyword and all other
       parts must be on following lines.  This version of bc  will  allow  any
       number  of newlines before and after the opening brace of the function.
       For example, the following definitions are legal.
              define d (n) { return (2*n); }
              define d (n)
                { return (2*n); }

       Functions may be defined as void.  A void function returns no value and
       thus  may not be used in any place that needs a value.  A void function
       does not produce any output when called by itself  on  an  input  line.
       The  key  word void is placed between the key word define and the func-
       tion name.  For example, consider the following session.
              define py (y) { print "--->", y, "<---", "\n"; }
              define void px (x) { print "--->", x, "<---", "\n"; }
              py(1)
              --->1<---
              0
              px(1)
              --->1<---
       Since py is not a void function, the call of py(1) prints  the  desired
       output and then prints a second line that is the value of the function.
       Since the value of a function that is  not  given  an  explicit  return
       statement  is zero, the zero is printed.  For px(1), no zero is printed
       because the function is a void function.

       Also, call by variable for arrays was added.   To  declare  a  call  by
       variable  array, the declaration of the array parameter in the function
       definition looks like "*name[]".  The call to the function remains  the
       same as call by value arrays.

   MATH LIBRARY
       If  bc  is  invoked with the -l option, a math library is preloaded and
       the default scale is set to 20.   The  math  functions  will  calculate
       their results to the scale set at the time of their call.  The math li-
       brary defines the following functions:

       s (x)  The sine of x, x is in radians.

       c (x)  The cosine of x, x is in radians.

       a (x)  The arctangent of x, arctangent returns radians.

       l (x)  The natural logarithm of x.

       e (x)  The exponential function of raising e to the value x.

       j (n,x)
              The Bessel function of integer order n of x.

   EXAMPLES
       In /bin/sh, the following will assign the value of "pi"  to  the  shell
       variable pi.
               pi=$(echo "scale=10; 4*a(1)" | bc -l)

       The following is the definition of the exponential function used in the
       math library.  This function is written in POSIX bc.
              scale = 20

              /* Uses the fact that e^x = (e^(x/2))^2
                 When x is small enough, we use the series:
                   e^x = 1 + x + x^2/2! + x^3/3! + ...
              */

              define e(x) {
                auto  a, d, e, f, i, m, v, z

                /* Check the sign of x. */
                if (x<0) {
                  m = 1
                  x = -x
                }

                /* Precondition x. */
                z = scale;
                scale = 4 + z + .44*x;
                while (x > 1) {
                  f += 1;
                  x /= 2;
                }

                /* Initialize the variables. */
                v = 1+x
                a = x
                d = 1

                for (i=2; 1; i++) {
                  e = (a *= x) / (d *= i)
                  if (e == 0) {
                    if (f>0) while (f--)  v = v*v;
                    scale = z
                    if (m) return (1/v);
                    return (v/1);
                  }
                  v += e
                }
              }

       The following is code that uses the extended features of bc  to  imple-
       ment a simple program for calculating checkbook balances.  This program
       is best kept in a file so that it can be used many times without having
       to retype it at every use.
              scale=2
              print "\nCheck book program!\n"
              print "  Remember, deposits are negative transactions.\n"
              print "  Exit by a 0 transaction.\n\n"

              print "Initial balance? "; bal = read()
              bal /= 1
              print "\n"
              while (1) {
                "current balance = "; bal
                "transaction? "; trans = read()
                if (trans == 0) break;
                bal -= trans
                bal /= 1
              }
              quit

       The following is the definition of the recursive factorial function.
              define f (x) {
                if (x <= 1) return (1);
                return (f(x-1) * x);
              }

   READLINE AND LIBEDIT OPTIONS
       GNU bc can be compiled (via a configure option) to use the GNU readline
       input editor library or the BSD libedit library.  This allows the  user
       to do editing of lines before sending them to bc.  It also allows for a
       history of previous lines typed.  When this option is selected, bc  has
       one  more special variable.  This special variable, history is the num-
       ber of lines of history retained.  For readline, a value  of  -1  means
       that  an  unlimited  number of history lines are retained.  Setting the
       value of history to a positive number restricts the number  of  history
       lines  to  the  number given.  The value of 0 disables the history fea-
       ture.  The default value is 100.  For more information, read  the  user
       manuals  for  the GNU readline, history and BSD libedit libraries.  One
       can not enable both readline and libedit at the same time.

   DIFFERENCES
       This version of bc was implemented from the POSIX P1003.2/D11 draft and
       contains  several  differences and extensions relative to the draft and
       traditional implementations.  It is not implemented in the  traditional
       way  using  dc(1).   This  version is a single process which parses and
       runs a byte code translation of the  program.   There  is  an  "undocu-
       mented"  option (-c) that causes the program to output the byte code to
       the standard output instead of running it.  It was mainly used for  de-
       bugging the parser and preparing the math library.

       A  major  source  of  differences is extensions, where a feature is ex-
       tended to add more functionality and additions, where new features  are
       added.  The following is the list of differences and extensions.

       LANG environment
              This  version does not conform to the POSIX standard in the pro-
              cessing of the LANG environment  variable  and  all  environment
              variables starting with LC_.

       names  Traditional and POSIX bc have single letter names for functions,
              variables and arrays.  They have been extended to be multi-char-
              acter  names  that  start with a letter and may contain letters,
              numbers and the underscore character.

       Strings
              Strings are not allowed to contain NUL characters.   POSIX  says
              all characters must be included in strings.

       last   POSIX bc does not have a last variable.  Some implementations of
              bc use the period (.) in a similar way.

       comparisons
              POSIX bc allows comparisons only in the if statement, the  while
              statement,  and  the  second  expression  of  the for statement.
              Also, only one relational operation is allowed in each of  those
              statements.

       if statement, else clause
              POSIX bc does not have an else clause.

       for statement
              POSIX  bc  requires  all  expressions  to  be present in the for
              statement.

       &&, ||, !
              POSIX bc does not have the logical operators.

       read function
              POSIX bc does not have a read function.

       print statement
              POSIX bc does not have a print statement.

       continue statement
              POSIX bc does not have a continue statement.

       return statement
              POSIX bc requires parentheses around the return expression.

       array parameters
              POSIX bc does not (currently) support array parameters in  full.
              The POSIX grammar allows for arrays in function definitions, but
              does not provide a method to specify an array as an  actual  pa-
              rameter.   (This  is  most  likely an oversight in the grammar.)
              Traditional implementations of bc have only call by value  array
              parameters.

       function format
              POSIX  bc requires the opening brace on the same line as the de-
              fine key word and the auto statement on the next line.

       =+, =-, =*, =/, =%, =^
              POSIX bc does not require these "old style" assignment operators
              to be defined.  This version may allow these "old style" assign-
              ments.  Use the limits statement to see if the installed version
              supports  them.   If  it does support the "old style" assignment
              operators, the statement "a =- 1" will decrement a by 1  instead
              of setting a to the value -1.

       spaces in numbers
              Other  implementations of bc allow spaces in numbers.  For exam-
              ple, "x=1 3" would assign the value 13 to the variable  x.   The
              same statement would cause a syntax error in this version of bc.

       errors and execution
              This  implementation  varies from other implementations in terms
              of what code will be executed when syntax and other  errors  are
              found  in the program.  If a syntax error is found in a function
              definition, error recovery tries to  find  the  beginning  of  a
              statement and continue to parse the function.  Once a syntax er-
              ror is found in the function, the function will not be  callable
              and  becomes undefined.  Syntax errors in the interactive execu-
              tion code will invalidate the current execution block.  The exe-
              cution  block is terminated by an end of line that appears after
              a complete sequence of statements.  For example,
              a = 1
              b = 2
       has two execution blocks and
              { a = 1
                b = 2 }
       has one execution block.  Any runtime error will terminate  the  execu-
       tion of the current execution block.  A runtime warning will not termi-
       nate the current execution block.

       Interrupts
              During an interactive session, the SIGINT signal (usually gener-
              ated  by  the  control-C character from the terminal) will cause
              execution of the current execution block to be interrupted.   It
              will display a "runtime" error indicating which function was in-
              terrupted.  After all runtime structures have been cleaned up, a
              message  will be printed to notify the user that bc is ready for
              more input.  All previously defined functions remain defined and
              the  value  of all non-auto variables are the value at the point
              of interruption.  All auto variables and function parameters are
              removed  during  the clean up process.  During a non-interactive
              session, the SIGINT signal will terminate the entire run of bc.

   LIMITS
       The following are the limits currently in place for this bc  processor.
       Some  of them may have been changed by an installation.  Use the limits
       statement to see the actual values.

       BC_BASE_MAX
              The maximum output base is currently set at  999.   The  maximum
              input base is 16.

       BC_DIM_MAX
              This  is  currently  an arbitrary limit of 65535 as distributed.
              Your installation may be different.

       BC_SCALE_MAX
              The number of digits after  the  decimal  point  is  limited  to
              INT_MAX  digits.   Also, the number of digits before the decimal
              point is limited to INT_MAX digits.

       BC_STRING_MAX
              The limit on the number of characters in  a  string  is  INT_MAX
              characters.

       exponent
              The  value of the exponent in the raise operation (^) is limited
              to LONG_MAX.

       variable names
              The current limit on the number of unique  names  is  32767  for
              each of simple variables, arrays and functions.

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
       The following environment variables are processed by bc:

       POSIXLY_CORRECT
              This is the same as the -s option.

       BC_ENV_ARGS
              This is another mechanism to get arguments to bc.  The format is
              the same as the command line  arguments.   These  arguments  are
              processed  first,  so  any files listed in the environment argu-
              ments are processed before  any  command  line  argument  files.
              This  allows  the user to set up "standard" options and files to
              be processed at every invocation of bc.  The files in the  envi-
              ronment  variables  would typically contain function definitions
              for functions the user wants defined every time bc is run.

       BC_LINE_LENGTH
              This should be an integer specifying the number of characters in
              an  output  line  for  numbers.  This includes the backslash and
              newline characters for long numbers.  As an extension, the value
              of  zero  disables  the  multi-line feature.  Any other value of
              this variable that is less than 3 sets the line length to 70.

DIAGNOSTICS
       If any file on the command line can not be opened, bc will report  that
       the file is unavailable and terminate.  Also, there are compile and run
       time diagnostics that should be self-explanatory.

BUGS
       Error recovery is not very good yet.

       Email bug reports to bug-bc@gnu.org.   Be  sure  to  include  the  word
       ``bc'' somewhere in the ``Subject:'' field.

AUTHOR
       Philip A. Nelson
       philnelson@acm.org

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
       The  author  would  like to thank Steve Sommars (Steve.Sommars@att.com)
       for his extensive help in testing the implementation.  Many great  sug-
       gestions were given.  This is a much better product due to his involve-
       ment.

GNU Project                       2006-06-11                             bc(1)

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