How to do arithmatic operation on floating number by using expr ???

raman.kumar · 05-18-2009, 01:59 AM

As i know that expr can not be used by decimal number....can anyone tell me that can i use expr and do arithmatic operation on decimal number ????

colucix · 05-18-2009, 02:35 AM

You can use either bc or awk. Using bc you have to specify the scale that is the total number of decimal digits after the decimal point. For example:

Code:

$ echo "scale=4; 3.4 / 2.0" | bc
1.7000
$ echo "scale=9; 3.4 / 2.0" | bc
1.700000000

In awk you can perform floating point arithmetic and print the result accordingly using printf:

Code:

$ awk 'BEGIN{printf "%11.9f\n",3.4/2.0}'
1.700000000

pixellany · 05-18-2009, 07:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by raman.kumar

As i know that expr can not be used by decimal number....can anyone tell me that can i use expr and do arithmatic operation on decimal number ????

Semantics:
"decimal number" means base 10. You mean floating point (not "floating")---or maybe "non-integer".

As you stated, "expr" does not do floating point. In fact, BASH does not do floating point. You need something like the suggestions from colucix.