Search code examples
bashvariablesdivide

Divide two variables in bash

I am trying to divide two var in bash, this is what I've got:

var1=3;
var2=4;

echo ($var1/$var2)

I always get a syntax error. Does anyone knows what's wrong?

Solution

  • shell parsing is useful only for integer division:

    var1=8
var2=4
echo $((var1 / var2))

    output: 2

    instead your example:

    var1=3
var2=4
echo $((var1 / var2))

    ouput: 0

    it's better to use bc:

    echo "scale=2 ; $var1 / $var2" | bc

    output: .75

    scale is the precision required