mate-calc-cmd

Start an interactive calculator session

$ mate-calc-cmd

$ [2 + 5]

mate-calc-cmd [OPTION...] EXPRESSION

EXPRESSION
    The mathematical expression to be evaluated. This should be a string containing numbers, operators, and functions. It's often enclosed in single quotes (e.g., '10 + 5 * 2') to prevent shell expansion.

-h, --help
    Show a summary of command-line options.

--help-all
    Show all help options, including GTK+ and MATE-specific options.

--version
    Show the version information for mate-calc-cmd.

--display=DISPLAY
    X display to use (standard GTK+ option, less relevant for command-line output).

--screen=SCREEN
    X screen to use (standard GTK+ option).

mate-calc-cmd is the command-line interface for the MATE Calculator application. It allows users to perform mathematical calculations directly from the terminal without needing to launch the graphical user interface. Users provide a mathematical expression as an argument, which mate-calc-cmd evaluates and prints the resulting value to standard output.

This utility is particularly useful for scripting, quick ad-hoc calculations, or integrating arithmetic operations into shell pipelines and other command-line workflows. It supports a wide range of standard arithmetic operators (+, -, *, /, ^), common mathematical functions (e.g., sin, cos, tan, log, sqrt), and constants (e.g., pi, e). Expressions must often be enclosed in quotes to prevent shell interpretation of special characters like spaces, asterisks (*), or parentheses.

Expressions containing spaces, shell wildcards (*), or parentheses must be enclosed in quotes (single quotes are generally safer) to ensure the shell passes the entire expression as a single argument to mate-calc-cmd. For example, use '2 * (3 + 4)' instead of 2 * (3 + 4).

Error handling for malformed expressions might be basic, potentially outputting 'Error' or an invalid value rather than detailed diagnostics.

It is crucial to quote your mathematical expressions, especially if they contain spaces or characters that the shell might interpret specially (like `*`, `(`, `)`). For example, to calculate `2 + 2`, you should run: `mate-calc-cmd '2 + 2'`.

mate-calc-cmd supports standard arithmetic operators (`+`, `-`, `*`, `/`, `^` for exponentiation), trigonometric functions (`sin`, `cos`, `tan`, `asin`, `acos`, `atan`), logarithmic functions (`log`, `ln`), square root (`sqrt`), and mathematical constants like `pi` and `e`.

mate-calc-cmd is an integral part of the MATE Desktop Environment's calculator utility, mate-calc. The MATE project emerged as a fork of GNOME 2 following the release of GNOME 3. Consequently, mate-calc-cmd inherits its core functionality and parser from the traditional GNOME 2 calculator, providing a consistent and familiar command-line experience for users within the MATE ecosystem. Its development has focused on maintaining stability and compatibility with the MATE desktop environment.

mate-calc(1), bc(1), dc(1), expr(1)