Provided by: apcalc-common_2.12.5.0-1_all bug

NAME

       calc - arbitrary precision calculator

SYNOPSIS

       calc [-c] [-C] [-d]
            [-D calc_debug[:resource_debug[:user_debug]]]
            [-e] [-h] [-i] [-m mode] [-O]
            [-p] [-q] [-s] [-u] [-v] [[--] calc_cmd ...]

       #!/usr/bin/calc [other_flags ...] -f

DESCRIPTION


       CALC OPTIONS

       -c     Continue  reading  command  lines  even  after  a  scan/parse  error has caused the
              abandonment of a line.  Note that this option only deals with scanning and  parsing
              of the calc language.  It does not deal with execution or run-time errors.

              For example:

                   calc read many_errors.cal

              will cause calc to abort on the first syntax error, whereas:

                   calc -c read many_errors.cal

              will  cause  calc  to  try  to  process each line being read despite the scan/parse
              errors that it encounters.

              By default, calc startup resource files are silently ignored if  not  found.   This
              flag will report missing startup resource files unless -d is also given.

       -C     Permit  the  execution of custom builtin functions.  Without this flag, calling the
              custom() builtin function will simply generate an error.

              Use of this flag may cause calc to execute functions that are non-standard and that
              are  not  portable.   Custom  builtin  functions  are  disabled by default for this
              reason.

       -d     Disable the printing of the opening title.  The printing of resource file debug and
              informational  messages is also disabled as if config("resource_debug", 0) had been
              executed.

              For example:

                   calc "read qtime; qtime(2)"

              will output something like:

                   qtime(utc_hr_offset) defined
                   It's nearly ten past six.

              whereas:

                   calc -d "read qtime; qtime(2)"

              will just say:

                   It's nearly ten past six.

              This flag disables the reporting of missing calc startup resource files.

       -D calc_debug[:resource_debug[:user_debug]]
              Force the  initial  value  of  config("calc_debug"),  config("resource_debug")  and
              config("user_debug").

              The  :  separated  strings  are  interpreted  as  signed 32 bit integers.  After an
              optional leading sign a leading zero indicates  octal  conversion,  and  a  leading
              ``0x'' or ``0X'' hexadecimal conversion.  Otherwise, decimal conversion is assumed.

              By default, calc_debug is 0, resource_debug is 3 and user_debug is 0.

              For more information use the following calc command:

                   help config

       -e     Ignore  any  environment  variables  on  startup.   The getenv() builtin will still
              return values, however.

       -f     This flag is required when using calc in shell script mode.  It must be at the  end
              of the initial #!  line of the script.

              This flag is normally only at the end of a calc shell script.  If the first line of
              an executable file begins #!  followed by the absolute pathname of the calc program
              and the flag -f as in:

                   #!/usr/bin/calc [other_flags ...] -f

              the rest of the file will be processed in shell script mode.  See SHELL SCRIPT MODE
              section of this man page below for details.

              The actual form of this flag is:

                   -f filename

              On systems that treat an executable that begins with #!  as a script, the  path  of
              the executable is appended by the kernel as the final argument to the exec() system
              call.  This is why the -f flag at the very end of the #!  line.

              It is possible use -f filename on the command line:

                   calc [other_flags ...] -f filename

              This will cause calc to process lines in filename in shell script mode.

              Use of -f implies -s.  In addition, -d and -p are implied if -i is not given.

       -h     Print a help message.  This option implies -q.  This  is  equivalent  to  the  calc
              command  help  help.  The help facility is disabled unless the mode is 5 or 7.  See
              -m.

       -i     Become interactive if possible.  This flag will cause calc to drop into interactive
              mode  after the calc_cmd arguments on the command line are evaluated.  Without this
              flag, calc will exit after they are evaluated.

              For example:

                   calc 2+5

              will print the value 7 and exit whereas:

                   calc -i 2+5

              will print the value 7 and prompt the user for more calc commands.

       -m mode
              This flag sets the permission mode of calc.  It controls the ability  for  calc  to
              open files and execute programs.  Mode may be a number from 0 to 7.

              The mode value is interpreted in a way similar to that of the chmod(1) octal mode:

                   0  do not open any file, do not execute progs
                   1  do not open any file
                   2  do not open files for reading, do not execute progs
                   3  do not open files for reading
                   4  do not open files for writing, do not execute progs
                   5  do not open files for writing
                   6  do not execute any program
                   7  allow everything (default mode)

              If  one wished to run calc from a privileged user, one might want to use -m 0 in an
              effort to make calc somewhat more secure.

              Mode bits for reading and writing apply only on an open.  Files  already  open  are
              not  effected.   Thus  if  one  wanted  to  use  the -m 0 in an effort to make calc
              somewhat more secure, but still wanted to read and write a specific file, one might
              want to do in sh(1), ksh(1), bash(1)-like shells:

                   calc -m 0 3<a.file

              Files  presented  to  calc  in  this  way are opened in an unknown mode.  Calc will
              attempt to read or write them if directed.

              If the mode disables opening of files for reading, then the startup resource  files
              are disabled as if -q was given.  The reading of key bindings is also disabled when
              the mode disables opening of files for reading.

       -O     Use the old classic defaults instead of the default configuration.   This  flag  as
              the same effect as executing config("all", "oldcfg") at startup time.

              NOTE:  Older  versions of calc used -n to setup a modified form of the default calc
              configuration.  The -n flag currently does nothing.  Use of  the  -n  flag  is  now
              deprecated and may be used for something else in the future.

       -p     Pipe processing is enabled by use of -p.  For example:

                   calc -p "2^21701-1" | fizzbin

              In  pipe mode, calc does not prompt, does not print leading tabs and does not print
              the initial header.  The -p flag overrides -i.

       -q     Disable the reading of the startup scripts.

       -s     By default, all calc_cmd args are evaluated and executed.  This flag  will  disable
              their  evaluation and instead make them available as strings for the argv() builtin
              function.

       -u     Disable buffering of stdin and stdout.

       -v     Print the calc version number and exit.

       --     The double dash indicates to calc that no more  options  follow.   Thus  calc  will
              ignore a later argument on the command line even if it starts with a dash.  This is
              useful when entering negative values on the command line as in:

                   calc -p -- -1 - -7

       CALC COMMAND LINE

       With no calc_cmd arguments, calc operates interactively.  If one  or  more  arguments  are
       given  on  the  command line and -s is NOT given, then calc will read and execute them and
       either attempt to go interactive according as the -i flag was present or absent.

       If -s is given, calc will not evaluate  any  calc_cmd  arguments  but  instead  make  them
       available as strings to the argv() builtin function.

       Sufficiently  simple  commands  with no characters like parentheses, brackets, semicolons,
       '*', which have special interpretations in UNIX  shells  may  be  entered,  possibly  with
       spaces, until the terminating newline.  For example:

            calc 23 + 47

       will print 70.  However, command lines will have problems:

            calc 23 * 47

            calc -23 + 47

       The  first  example  above fails because the shell interprets the '*' as a file glob.  The
       second example fails because '-23' is viewed as a calc option (which it  is  not)  and  do
       calc  objects  to that it thinks of as an unknown option.  These cases can usually be made
       to work as expected by enclosing the command between quotes:

            calc '23 * 47'

            calc "print sqrt(2), exp(1)"

       or in parentheses and quotes to avoid leading -'s as in:

            calc '(-23 + 47)'

       One may also use a double dash to denote that calc options have ended as in:

            calc -- -23 + 47

            calc -q -- -23 + 47

       If '!' is to be used to indicate the factorial function, for shells like csh(1) for  which
       '!'  followed  by  a  non-space  character  is  used  for  history substitution, it may be
       necessary to include a space or use a backslash to escape the special meaning of '!'.  For
       example, the command:

            print 27!^2

       may have to be replaced by:

            print 27! ^2   or   print 27^2

       CALC STARTUP FILES

       Normally  on startup, if the environment variable $CALCRC is undefined and calc is invoked
       without the -q flag, or if $CALCRC is defined and calc is invoked with -e, calc looks  for
       a  file "startup" in the calc resource directory .calcrc in the user's home directory, and
       .calcinit in the current directory.  If one or more of these are found, they are  read  in
       succession  as  calc  scripts  and  their  commands executed.  When defined, $CALCRC is to
       contain a ':' separated list of names of files, and if calc is then invoked without either
       the  -q  or  -e flags, these files are read in succession and their commands executed.  No
       error condition is produced if a listed file is not found.

       If the mode specified by -m disables opening of files for reading,  then  the  reading  of
       startup files is also disabled as if -q was given.

       CALC FILE SEARCH PATH

       If  the  environment  variable  $CALCPATH  is  undefined,  or if it is defined and calc is
       invoked with the -e flag, when a file name not beginning with /, ~ or ./, is specified  as
       in:

            calc read myfile

       calc searches in succession:

            ./myfile
            ./myfile.cal
            /usr/lib/myfile
            /usr/lib/myfile.cal
            /usr/share/calc/custom/myfile
            /usr/share/calc/custom/myfile.cal

       If  the  file is found, the search stops and the commands in the file are executed.  It is
       an error if no readable file with the specified name is found.  An alternative search path
       can  be  specified  by  defining  $CALCPATH  in  the same way as PATH is defined, as a ':'
       separated list of directories, and then invoking calc without the -e flag.

       Calc treats all open files, other than stdin, stdout and stderr  as  files  available  for
       reading  and writing.  One may present calc with an already open file using sh(1), ksh(1),
       bash(1)-like shells is to:

            calc 3<open_file 4<open_file2

       For more information use the following calc commands:

            help help
            help overview
            help usage
            help environment
            help config

       SHELL SCRIPT MODE

       If the first line of an executable file begins #!  followed by the  absolute  pathname  of
       the calc program and the flag -f as in:

            #!/usr/bin/calc [other_flags ...] -f

       the  rest of the file will be processed in shell script mode.  Note that -f must be at the
       end of the initial ``#!'' line.  Any other optional other_flags must come before the -f.

       In shell script mode the contents of the file are read and executed as if they were  in  a
       file  being  processed  by  a  read  command,  except  that a "command" beginning with '#'
       followed by whitespace and ending at the next  newline  is  treated  as  a  comment.   Any
       optional  other_flags  will  be parsed first followed by the later lines within the script
       itself.

       In shell script mode, -s is always assumed.  In addition, -d and -p are automatically  set
       if -i is not given.

       For example, if the file /tmp/mersenne:

            #!/usr/bin/calc -q -f
            #
            # mersenne - an example of a calc shell script file

            /* parse args */
            if (argv() != 1) {
                fprintf(files(2), "usage: %s exp\n", config("program"));
                abort "must give one exponent arg";
            }

            /* print the mersenne number */
            print "2^": argv(0) : "-1 =", 2^eval(argv(0))-1;

       is made an executable file by:

            chmod +x /tmp/mersenne

       then the command line:

            /tmp/mersenne 127

       will print:

            2^127-1 = 170141183460469231731687303715884105727

       Note  that  because  -s  is  assumed  in  shell  script  mode and non-dashed args are made
       available as strings via the argv() builtin function.  Therefore:

            2^eval(argv(0))-1

       will print the decimal value of 2^n-1 but

            2^argv(0)-1

       will not.

       DATA TYPES

       Fundamental builtin data types include integers, real numbers, rational  numbers,  complex
       numbers and strings.

       By use of an object, one may define an arbitrarily complex data types.  One may define how
       such  objects  behave  a  wide  range  of  operations  such  as   addition,   subtraction,
       multiplication, division, negation, squaring, modulus, rounding, exponentiation, equality,
       comparison, printing and so on.

       For more information use the following calc commands:

          help types
          help obj
          show objfuncs

       VARIABLES

       Variables in calc are typeless.  In other words, the fundamental type  of  a  variable  is
       determined  by  its  content.   Before  a variable is assigned a value it has the value of
       zero.

       The scope of a variable may be global, local to a file, or local to a  procedure.   Values
       may  be  grouped  together  in a matrix, or into a list that permits stack and queue style
       operations.

       For more information use the following calc commands:

          help variable
          help mat
          help list
          show globals

       INPUT/OUTPUT

       A leading ``0x'' implies a hexadecimal value, a leading ``0b'' implies a binary value, and
       a  ``0''  followed  by a digit implies an octal value.  Complex numbers are indicated by a
       trailing ``i'' such as in ``3+4i''.  Strings may be delimited by either a pair  of  single
       or  double quotes.  By default, calc prints values as if they were floating point numbers.
       One may change the default to print values in  a  number  of  modes  including  fractions,
       integers and exponentials.

       A  number of stdio-like file I/O operations are provided.  One may open, read, write, seek
       and close files.  Filenames are subject to `` '' expansion to home directories  in  a  way
       similar to that of the Korn or C-Shell.

       For example:

          ~/.calcrc
          ~chongo/lib/fft_multiply.cal

       For more information use the following calc command:

          help file

       CALC LANGUAGE

       The  calc  language is a C-like language.  The language includes commands such as variable
       declarations, expressions, tests, labels, loops, file operations, function  calls.   These
       commands are very similar to their counterparts in C.

       The  language  also include a number of commands particular to calc itself.  These include
       commands such as function definition, help, reading in resource files,  dump  files  to  a
       file, error notification, configuration control and status.

       For more information use the following calc command:

          help command
          help statement
          help expression
          help operator
          help config

FILES


       /usr/bin/calc
            calc binary

       /usr/share/doc/apcalc/examples/*
            calc shell scripts

       /usr/lib/*.cal
            calc standard resource files

       /usr/lib/help/*
            help files

       /usr/lib/bindings
            non-GNU-readline command line editor bindings

       /usr/include/calc/*.h
            include files for C interface use

       /usr/lib/libcalc.a
            calc binary link library

       /usr/lib/libcustcalc.a
            custom binary link library

       /usr/share/calc/custom/*.cal
            custom resource files

       /usr/share/calc/custhelp/*
            custom help files

ENVIRONMENT


       CALCPATH
            A  :-separated list of directories used to search for calc resource filenames that do
            not begin with /, ./ or ~.

            Default         value:          .:./cal:~/.cal:/usr/local/share/calc:/usr/share/calc:
            /usr/share/calc/custom

       CALCRC
            On  startup  (unless -h or -q was given on the command line), calc searches for files
            along this :-separated environment variable.

            Default    value:    /usr/share/calc/startup:/usr/local/share/calc/startup:~/.calcrc:
            ./.calcinit

       CALCBINDINGS
            On  startup  (unless  -h or -q was given on the command line, or -m disallows opening
            files for reading), calc reads key bindings  from  the  filename  specified  by  this
            environment  variable.  The key binding file is searched for along the $CALCPATH list
            of directories.

            Default value: binding

            This variable is not used if calc was compiled with GNU-readline  support.   In  that
            case, the standard readline mechanisms (see readline(3)) are used.

CREDIT


       The main chunk of calc was written by David I. Bell.

       The  calc primary mirror, calc mailing list and calc bug report processing is performed by
       Landon Curt Noll.

       Landon Curt Noll maintains the master reference source, performs release control functions
       as well as other calc maintenance functions.

       Thanks  for  suggestions  and  encouragement from Peter Miller, Neil Justusson, and Landon
       Noll.

       Thanks to Stephen Rothwell for writing the original version of hist.c which is used to  do
       the command line editing.

       Thanks  to  Ernest W. Bowen for supplying many improvements in accuracy and generality for
       some numeric functions.  Much of this was in terms  of  actual  code  which  I  gratefully
       accepted.  Ernest also supplied the original text for many of the help files.

       Portions  of  this  program  are  derived from an earlier set of public domain arbitrarily
       precision routines which was posted to the net around 1984.  By now, there  is  almost  no
       recognizable code left from that original source.

COPYING / CALC GNU LESSER GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE


       Calc  is  open software, and is covered under version 2.1 of the GNU Lesser General Public
       License.  You are welcome to change it  and/or  distribute  copies  of  it  under  certain
       conditions.  The calc commands:

            help copyright
            help copying
            help copying-lgpl

       should  display  the  contents of the COPYING and COPYING-LGPL files.  Those files contain
       information about the calc's GNU Lesser General Public  License,  and  in  particular  the
       conditions under which you are allowed to change it and/or distribute copies of it.

       You  should  have  received  a  copy  of  the version 2.1 of the GNU Lesser General Public
       License.  If you do not have these files, write to:

            Free Software Foundation, Inc.
            51 Franklin Street
            Fifth Floor
            Boston, MA  02110-1301
            USA

       Calc is copyrighted in several different ways.  These ways include:

            Copyright (C) year  David I. Bell
            Copyright (C) year  David I. Bell and Landon Curt Noll
            Copyright (C) year  David I. Bell and Ernest Bowen
            Copyright (C) year  David I. Bell, Landon Curt Noll and Ernest Bowen
            Copyright (C) year  Landon Curt Noll
            Copyright (C) year  Ernest Bowen and Landon Curt Noll
            Copyright (C) year  Ernest Bowen

       This man page is:

            Copyright (C) 1999  Landon Curt Noll

       and is covered under version 2.1 GNU Lesser General Public License.

CALC MAILING LIST / CALC UPDATES / ENHANCEMENTS


       To contribute comments, suggestions, enhancements and interesting calc resource files, and
       shell scripts please join the calc-tester low volume moderated calc mailing list.

       To the calc-tester mailing list, visit the following URL:

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       To help determine you are a human and not just a spam bot, you will be required to provide
       the following additional information:

            Your Name

            Calc Version
               For example, the current version is: 2.12.5.0

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            The date 7 days ago
               Consult a calendar :-)

       If you need a human to help you with your  mailing  list  subscription,  or  if  you  have
       problems with the above procedure, please send EMail to our special address:

            calc-tester-maillist-help at asthe dot com

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            NOTE: Yes, the EMail address uses 'asthe',
                  while the web site uses 'isthe'.

       To  be  sure we see your EMail asking for help with your mailing list subscription, please
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BUG REPORTS / BUG FIXES


       Send bug reports and bug fixes to:

            calc-bug-report at asthe dot com

            NOTE: Remove spaces and replace 'at' with @, 'dot' with .

            NOTE: Yes, the EMail address uses 'asthe',
                  while the web site uses 'isthe'.

       Your subject must contain the words:

            calc bug report

       You may have additional words in your subject line.
            However, you may find it more helpful to simply subscribe to the calc-tester  mailing
            list  (see  above)  and  then to send your report to that mailing list as a wider set
            calc testers may be able to help you.

            See the BUGS source file or use the calc command:

                 help bugs

            for more information about bug reporting.

CALC WEB SITE


       Landon Noll maintains the calc web site is located at:

            www.isthe.com/chongo/tech/comp/calc/

       Share and Enjoy! :-)