Mac OS X in a Nutshell

Name

dc

Synopsis

dc [file]

An interactive desk calculator program that performs arbitrary-precision integer arithmetic (input may be taken from a file). Normally you don’t run dc directly, since it’s invoked by bc (see bc). dc provides a variety of one-character commands and operators that perform arithmetic; dc works like a Reverse Polish calculator; therefore, operators and commands follow the numbers they affect. Operators include + - / * % ^ (as in C, although ^ means exponentiation); some simple commands include:

p

Print current result.

q

Quit dc.

c

Clear all values on the stack.

v

Take square root.

i

Change input base; similar to bc’s ibase.

o

Change output base; similar to bc’s obase.

k

Set scale factor (number of digits after decimal); similar to bc’s scale.

!

Remainder of line is a Unix command.

Examples

                     3 2 ^ p    
                     Evaluate 3 squared, then print result
9 
8 * p      
                     Current value (9) times 8, then print result
72 
47 - p     
                     Subtract 47 from 72, then print result
25
v p        
                     Square root of 25, then print result
5
2 o p 
                                    Display current result in base 2
101

Spaces are not needed except between numbers.