Creating a calculator script

Question

I am trying to make a calculator with a bash script. The user enters a number, chooses whether they wish to add, subtract, multiply or divide. Then the user enters a second

Answer 1

The lesser-known shell builtin command select is handy for this kind of menu-driven program:

#!/bin/bash
while true; do
    read -p "what's the first number? " n1
    read -p "what's the second number? " n2
    PS3="what's the operation? "
    select ans in add subtract multiply divide; do
        case $ans in 
            add) op='+' ; break ;;
            subtract) op='-' ; break ;;
            multiply) op='*' ; break ;;
            divide) op='/' ; break ;;
            *) echo "invalid response" ;;
        esac
    done
    ans=$(echo "$n1 $op $n2" | bc -l)
    printf "%s %s %s = %s\n\n" "$n1" "$op" "$n2" "$ans"
done

Sample output

what's the first number? 5
what's the second number? 4
1) add
2) subtract
3) multiply
4) divide
what's the operation? /
invalid response
what's the operation? 4
5 / 4 = 1.25000000000000000000

---

If I was going to get fancy with bash v4 features and DRY:

#!/bin/bash

PS3="what's the operation? "
declare -A op=([add]='+' [subtract]='-' [multiply]='*' [divide]='/')

while true; do
    read -p "what's the first number? " n1
    read -p "what's the second number? " n2
    select ans in "${!op[@]}"; do
        for key in "${!op[@]}"; do
            [[ $REPLY == $key ]] && ans=$REPLY
            [[ $ans == $key ]] && break 2
        done
        echo "invalid response"
    done
    formula="$n1 ${op[$ans]} $n2"
    printf "%s = %s\n\n" "$formula" "$(bc -l <<< "$formula")"
done