DC(1)                                                                    DC(1)



NAME
       dc - an arbitrary precision calculator

SYNOPSIS
       dc [-V] [--version] [-h] [--help]
          [-e scriptexpression] [--expression=scriptexpression]
          [-f scriptfile] [--file=scriptfile]
          [file ...]

DESCRIPTION
       Dc  is a reverse-polish desk calculator which supports unlimited preci-
       sion arithmetic.  It also allows you to define and call  macros.   Nor-
       mally  dc  reads  from the standard input; if any command arguments are
       given to it, they are filenames, and dc reads and executes the contents
       of  the files before reading from standard input.  All normal output is
       to standard output; all error output is to standard error.

       A reverse-polish calculator stores numbers on a stack.  Entering a num-
       ber  pushes  it  on the stack.  Arithmetic operations pop arguments off
       the stack and push the results.

       To enter a number in dc, type  the  digits  with  an  optional  decimal
       point.   Exponential  notation  is  not supported.  To enter a negative
       number, begin the number with ``_''.  ``-'' cannot be used for this, as
       it  is a binary operator for subtraction instead.  To enter two numbers
       in succession, separate them with spaces or newlines.   These  have  no
       meaning as commands.

OPTIONS
       Dc may be invoked with the following command-line options:

       -V

       --version
              Print  out  the  version of dc that is being run and a copyright
              notice, then exit.

       -h

       --help Print a usage message  briefly  summarizing  these  command-line
              options and the bug-reporting address, then exit.

       -e script

       --expression=script
              Add  the  commands  in  script  to the set of commands to be run
              while processing the input.

       -f script-file

       --file=script-file
              Add the commands contained in the file script-file to the set of
              commands to be run while processing the input.

       If any command-line parameters remain after processing the above, these
       parameters are interpreted as the names of input files to be processed.
       A  file  name  of  - refers to the standard input stream.  The standard
       input will processed if no file names are specified.

Printing Commands
       p      Prints the value on the top of the stack, without  altering  the
              stack.  A newline is printed after the value.

       n      Prints  the  value  on the top of the stack, popping it off, and
              does not print a newline after.

       P      Pops off the value on top of the stack.  If it it a  string,  it
              is simply printed without a trailing newline.  Otherwise it is a
              number, and the integer portion of its absolute value is printed
              out  as  a  "base  (UCHAR_MAX+1)"  byte  stream.   Assuming that
              (UCHAR_MAX+1) is 256 (as it  is  on  most  machines  with  8-bit
              bytes),  the  sequence  KSK  0k1/  [_1*]sx d0>x [256~aPd0<x]dsxx
              sxLKk could also accomplish this function, except for the  side-
              effect of clobbering the x register.

       f      Prints  the  entire  contents of the stack without altering any-
              thing.  This is a good command to use if you are lost or want to
              figure out what the effect of some command has been.

Arithmetic
       +      Pops two values off the stack, adds them, and pushes the result.
              The precision of the result is determined only by the values  of
              the arguments, and is enough to be exact.

       -      Pops  two values, subtracts the first one popped from the second
              one popped, and pushes the result.

       *      Pops two values, multiplies them, and pushes  the  result.   The
              number  of  fraction digits in the result depends on the current
              precision value and the number of fraction  digits  in  the  two
              arguments.

       /      Pops  two  values,  divides the second one popped from the first
              one popped, and pushes the result.  The number of fraction  dig-
              its is specified by the precision value.

       %      Pops two values, computes the remainder of the division that the
              / command would do, and pushes that.  The value computed is  the
              same as that computed by the sequence Sd dld/ Ld*- .

       ~      Pops  two  values,  divides the second one popped from the first
              one popped.  The quotient is pushed first, and the remainder  is
              pushed next.  The number of fraction digits used in the division
              is specified by the precision value.  (The sequence  SdSn  lnld/
              LnLd% could also accomplish this function, with slightly differ-
              ent error checking.)

       ^      Pops two values and exponentiates, using the first value  popped
              as the exponent and the second popped as the base.  The fraction
              part of the exponent is ignored.  The precision value  specifies
              the number of fraction digits in the result.

       |      Pops  three  values  and computes a modular exponentiation.  The
              first value popped is used as the reduction modulus; this  value
              must be a non-zero number, and should be an integer.  The second
              popped is used as the exponent; this value must be  a  non-nega-
              tive  number,  and  any fractional part of this exponent will be
              ignored.  The third value popped is the base which gets exponen-
              tiated,  which should be an integer.  For small integers this is
              like the sequence Sm^Lm%, but, unlike ^, this command will  work
              with arbitrarily large exponents.

       v      Pops  one value, computes its square root, and pushes that.  The
              precision value specifies the number of fraction digits  in  the
              result.

       Most  arithmetic  operations  are  affected by the ``precision value'',
       which you can set with the k command.  The default precision  value  is
       zero,  which means that all arithmetic except for addition and subtrac-
       tion produces integer results.

Stack Control
       c      Clears the stack, rendering it empty.

       d      Duplicates the value on the top of the  stack,  pushing  another
              copy of it.  Thus, ``4d*p'' computes 4 squared and prints it.

       r      Reverses the order of (swaps) the top two values on the stack.

Registers
       Dc provides at least 256 memory registers, each named by a single char-
       acter.  You can store a number or a string in a register  and  retrieve
       it later.

       sr     Pop  the value off the top of the stack and store it into regis-
              ter r.

       lr     Copy the value in register r and push it onto the  stack.   This
              does not alter the contents of r.

       Each  register also contains its own stack.  The current register value
       is the top of the register's stack.

       Sr     Pop the value off the top of the (main) stack and push  it  onto
              the  stack  of  register  r.  The previous value of the register
              becomes inaccessible.

       Lr     Pop the value off the top of register r's stack and push it onto
              the  main  stack.   The previous value in register r's stack, if
              any, is now accessible via the lr command.

Parameters
       Dc has three parameters that control its operation: the precision,  the
       input  radix, and the output radix.  The precision specifies the number
       of fraction digits to keep in the result of most arithmetic operations.
       The  input  radix  controls the interpretation of numbers typed in; all
       numbers typed in use this radix.  The output radix is used for printing
       numbers.

       The input and output radices are separate parameters; you can make them
       unequal, which can be useful or confusing.  The  input  radix  must  be
       between  2 and 16 inclusive.  The output radix must be at least 2.  The
       precision must be zero or greater.  The precision is always measured in
       decimal digits, regardless of the current input or output radix.

       i      Pops  the  value off the top of the stack and uses it to set the
              input radix.

       o      Pops the value off the top of the stack and uses it to  set  the
              output radix.

       k      Pops  the  value off the top of the stack and uses it to set the
              precision.

       I      Pushes the current input radix on the stack.

       O      Pushes the current output radix on the stack.

       K      Pushes the current precision on the stack.

Strings
       Dc can operate on strings as well as on numbers.  The only  things  you
       can  do  with  strings are print them and execute them as macros (which
       means that the contents of the string are processed  as  dc  commands).
       All  registers  and  the  stack  can  hold strings, and dc always knows
       whether any given object is a string or a number.  Some  commands  such
       as  arithmetic  operations demand numbers as arguments and print errors
       if given strings.  Other commands can  accept  either  a  number  or  a
       string;  for  example,  the  p command can accept either and prints the
       object according to its type.

       [characters]
              Makes a string containing characters (contained between balanced
              [  and  ] characters), and pushes it on the stack.  For example,
              [foo]P prints the characters foo (with no newline).

       a      The top-of-stack is popped.  If it was a number, then  the  low-
              order  byte of this number is converted into a string and pushed
              onto the stack.  Otherwise the top-of-stack was  a  string,  and
              the first character of that string is pushed back.

       x      Pops a value off the stack and executes it as a macro.  Normally
              it should be a string; if it is a number, it  is  simply  pushed
              back  onto  the stack.  For example, [1p]x executes the macro 1p
              which pushes 1 on the stack and prints 1 on a separate line.

       Macros are most often stored in registers; [1p]sa  stores  a  macro  to
       print 1 into register a, and lax invokes this macro.

       >r     Pops  two  values  off the stack and compares them assuming they
              are numbers, executing the contents of register r as a macro  if
              the  original  top-of-stack is greater.  Thus, 1 2>a will invoke
              register a's contents and 2 1>a will not.

       !>r    Similar but invokes the macro if the  original  top-of-stack  is
              not greater than (less than or equal to) what was the second-to-
              top.

       <r     Similar but invokes the macro if the  original  top-of-stack  is
              less.

       !<r    Similar  but  invokes  the macro if the original top-of-stack is
              not less than (greater than or equal to) what was the second-to-
              top.

       =r     Similar  but  invokes  the  macro  if the two numbers popped are
              equal.

       !=r    Similar but invokes the macro if the two numbers popped are  not
              equal.

       ?      Reads  a  line  from the terminal and executes it.  This command
              allows a macro to request input from the user.

       q      exits from a macro and also from the macro which invoked it.  If
              called  from  the  top  level,  or from a macro which was called
              directly from the top level, the q  command  will  cause  dc  to
              exit.

       Q      Pops  a  value off the stack and uses it as a count of levels of
              macro execution to be exited.  Thus, 3Q exits three levels.  The
              Q command will never cause dc to exit.

Status Inquiry
       Z      Pops  a  value off the stack, calculates the number of digits it
              has (or number of characters, if it is a string) and pushes that
              number.

       X      Pops  a  value  off the stack, calculates the number of fraction
              digits it has, and pushes that number.  For a string, the  value
              pushed is 0.

       z      Pushes  the  current  stack  depth: the number of objects on the
              stack before the execution of the z command.

Miscellaneous
       !      Will run the rest of the line as a system  command.   Note  that
              parsing  of  the  !<, !=, and !> commands take precedence, so if
              you want to run a command starting with <, =, or > you will need
              to add a space after the !.

       #      Will interpret the rest of the line as a comment.

       :r     Will  pop  the top two values off of the stack.  The old second-
              to-top value will be stored in the array r, indexed by  the  old
              top-of-stack value.

       ;r     Pops  the top-of-stack and uses it as an index into the array r.
              The selected value is then pushed onto the stack.

       Note that each stacked instance of a register has its own array associ-
       ated with it.  Thus 1 0:a 0Sa 2 0:a La 0;ap will print 1, because the 2
       was stored in an instance of 0:a that was later popped.

BUGS
       Email bug reports to bug-dc@gnu.org.



GNU Project                       1997-03-25                             DC(1)
