Variables

ccalc supports named variables. Any valid identifier can store a value.

Assignment

Use name = expr to assign. Assignments never update ans (MATLAB semantics).

Without ;, the result is displayed:

[ 0 ]: rate = 0.06 / 12
rate = 0.005
[ 0 ]: n = 360
n = 360
[ 0 ]: factor = (1 + rate) ^ n
factor = 10.9357
[ 0 ]: 200000 * rate * factor / (factor - 1)
[ 1199.10 ]:

Append ; to suppress output:

rate = 0.06 / 12;
n = 360;

Using variables

Any defined variable can appear inside an expression:

[ 0 ]: rate = 0.07
rate = 0.07
[ 0 ]: 1000 * (1 + rate) ^ 10
[ 1967.1513573 ]:

ans

ans is the implicit result variable — set automatically after every standalone expression (not after assignments). It is initialized to 0 at startup.

Expressions starting with an operator use ans as the left-hand operand:

[ 0 ]: 100
[ 100 ]: / 4
[ 25 ]: + 5
[ 30 ]:

Empty-argument function calls use ans as the argument:

[ 144 ]: sqrt()      →  12     (same as sqrt(144))

Constants

pi and e are pre-defined read-only constants:

View and clear

[ 0 ]: x = 10
[ 0 ]: y = 3.14
[ 0 ]: x + y
[ 13.14 ]: who
ans = 13.14
x = 10
y = 3.14
[ 13.14 ]: clear x
[ 13.14 ]: who
ans = 13.14
y = 3.14
[ 13.14 ]: clear

Workspace persistence

The workspace file is plain text, one name = value entry per line:

ans = 13.14
n = 360
rate = 0.005

Example — monthly mortgage

% REPL session
[ 0 ]: rate = 0.06 / 12;
[ 0 ]: n = 360;
[ 0 ]: factor = (1 + rate) ^ n;
[ 0 ]: 200000 * rate * factor / (factor - 1)
[ 1199.10 ]:

As a script file (assignments print unless ; suppresses them):

% Monthly mortgage payment
rate = 0.06 / 12;
n = 360;
factor = (1 + rate) ^ n;
200000 * rate * factor / (factor - 1)
fprintf('Monthly payment ($): ')
disp(ans)