Dec 29

Command not found … do the following!

Tag: Linux, Ubuntu — Abhijeet Maharana @ 11:04 pm

I was working with a script and had to do a quick float calculation. I knew Accessories >> Calculator but wanted a command line utility. Struggling to remember the syntax for using bc, I tried

$ bc 2.38987 + 5.43534
File 2.38987 is unavailable.

Not quite amused with the response, I was wondering if it always has to be as geeky as

echo 2.38987 + 5.43534 | bc

or

bc -i
2.38987 + 5.43534

and not something like

calc 2.38987 + 5.43534

I happened to type ‘calc’ and hit return without really thinking about it, and Ubuntu promptly reported

The program 'calc' is currently not installed.  You can install it by typing:
sudo apt-get install apcalc
Make sure you have the 'universe' component enabled
bash: calc: command not found

I was impressed! It doesn’t just tell me “command not found” but also tells me how to enable it to find it! Given Ubuntu’s packaging and software repository system this may be simple to achieve but these “simple” little things are what make exploring Ubuntu a joy. I took my OS’s advice and in no time I was using “calc 2.38987 + 5.43534″ (I am using Ubuntu 7.04).

3 Responses to “Command not found … do the following!”

  1. Bijay Rungta says:
    February 4th, 2008 at 7:59 pm

    Hey Abhijeet,
    Something very similar happened with me today..

    bijay@comp157-ubuntu:~$ cacl
    bash: cacl: command not found
    bijay@comp157-ubuntu:~$ cacl
    bash: cacl: command not found
    bijay@comp157-ubuntu:~$ calc
    The program ‘calc’ is currently not installed. You can install it by typing:
    sudo apt-get install apcalc
    bash: calc: command not found
    bijay@comp157-ubuntu:~$
    bijay@comp157-ubuntu:~$ man calc
    /*
    * Then I searched in Google to see the Description of calc to make sure it is what I am expecting
    * http://www.google.co.in/search?q=Ubuntu+%2B+%22apt-get+install+apcalc%22
    * and found your Blog
    */
    No manual entry for calc
    bijay@comp157-ubuntu:~$ sudo apt-get install apcalc

    Thanks…

  2. Abhijeet Maharana says:
    February 10th, 2008 at 12:36 am

    Hi Bijay,
    You can also use

    apt-cache show apcalc

    to view a description for apcalc.

    Thanks for the comment. It tells me that I need to modify the way comments are presented on my blog. Or maybe time for a theme change!

  3. Abhijeet Maharana says:
    February 12th, 2008 at 11:25 pm

    Done. Just changed the theme. Looks better IMO. Comments have more space and don’t use the sidebar as in the earlier one.

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