philcalc 0.1.0

Minimal symbolic CLI calculator powered by SymPy

phil

A minimal command-line calculator for exact arithmetic, symbolic differentiation, integration, algebraic equation solving, and ordinary differential equations.

Powered by SymPy.

Install

Requires uv.

Install from the project directory:

uv tool install .

Run without installing:

uv run phil '2+2'

60-Second Start

uv tool install .
phil --help
phil '1/3 + 1/6'
phil '(1 - 25e^5)e^{-5t} + (25e^5 - 1)t e^{-5t} + t e^{-5t} ln(t)'
phil

Then in REPL, try:

1. d(x^3 + 2*x, x)
2. int(sin(x), x)
3. solve(x^2 - 4, x)

Usage

One-shot

phil '<expression>'
phil --format pretty '<expression>'
phil --no-simplify '<expression>'
phil --latex '<expression>'
phil --latex-inline '<expression>'
phil --latex-block '<expression>'
phil --wa '<expression>'
phil --wa --copy-wa '<expression>'
phil :examples

Interactive

phil
phil> <expression>

REPL commands:

• :h / :help show help
• :examples show sample expressions
• :v / :version show current version
• :update / :check compare current vs latest version and print update command
• :q / :quit / :x exit

The REPL starts with a short hint line and prints targeted hint: messages on common errors. Unknown : commands return a short correction hint. Evaluation errors also include: hint: try WolframAlpha: <url>. Complex expressions also print a WolframAlpha equivalent hint after successful evaluation. REPL sessions also keep ans (last result) and support assignment such as A = Matrix([[1,2],[3,4]]).

Help

phil --help

Wolfram helper

• By default, complex expressions print a WolframAlpha equivalent link.
• Links are printed as full URLs for terminal auto-linking (including iTerm2).
• Use --wa to always print the link.
• Use --copy-wa to copy the link to your clipboard when shown.
• Full URLs are usually clickable directly in modern terminals.

Updates

From published package (anywhere):

uv tool upgrade philcalc

From a local clone of this repo:

uv tool install --force --reinstall --refresh .

Quick check in CLI:

phil :version
phil :update
phil :check

In REPL:

• :version shows your installed version.
• :update/:check show current version, latest known release, and update command.

For release notifications on GitHub, use "Watch" -> "Custom" -> "Releases only" on the repo page.

Long Expressions (easier input)

phil now uses relaxed parsing by default:

• 2x works like 2*x
• {} works like ()
• ln(t) works like log(t)

So inputs like these work directly:

phil '(1 - 25e^5)e^{-5t} + (25e^5 - 1)t e^{-5t} + t e^{-5t} ln(t)'
phil '(854/2197)e^{8t}+(1343/2197)e^{-5t}+((9/26)t^2 -(9/169)t)e^{8t}'

Use strict parsing if needed:

phil --strict '2*x'

Examples

$ phil '1/3 + 1/6'
1/2

$ phil 'd(x^3 + 2*x, x)'
3*x**2 + 2

$ phil 'int(sin(x), x)'
-cos(x)

$ phil 'solve(x^2 - 4, x)'
[-2, 2]

$ phil 'N(pi, 30)'
3.14159265358979323846264338328

$ phil --latex 'd(x^2, x)'
2 x

$ phil --latex-inline 'd(x^2, x)'
$2 x$

$ phil --latex-block 'd(x^2, x)'
$$
2 x
$$

$ phil --format pretty 'Matrix([[1,2],[3,4]])'
[1  2]
[3  4]

Test

uv run --group dev pytest

GitHub

• CI: .github/workflows/ci.yml runs tests on pushes and PRs.
• License: MIT (LICENSE).
• Ignore rules: Python/venv/cache (.gitignore).
• Contribution guide: CONTRIBUTOR.md.

Learn by Doing

Try this sequence in REPL mode:

1. 1/3 + 1/6
2. d(x^3 + 2*x, x)
3. int(sin(x), x)
4. solve(x^2 - 4, x)
5. N(pi, 20)

If you get stuck, run :examples or :h.

Reference

Operations

Operation	Syntax
Derivative	d(expr, var)
Integral	int(expr, var)
Solve equation	solve(expr, var)
Solve ODE	dsolve(Eq(...), func)
Equation	Eq(lhs, rhs)
Numeric eval	N(expr, digits)
Matrix determinant	det(Matrix([[...]]))
Matrix inverse	inv(Matrix([[...]]))
Matrix rank	rank(Matrix([[...]]))
Matrix eigenvalues	eigvals(Matrix([[...]]))

Symbols

x, y, z, t, pi, e, f

Functions

sin, cos, tan, exp, log, sqrt, abs

Matrix helpers

Matrix, eye, zeros, ones, det, inv, rank, eigvals

Syntax notes

• ^ is exponentiation (x^2)
• ! is factorial (5!)
• relaxed mode (default) allows implicit multiplication (2x); use --strict to require 2*x
• d(expr) / int(expr) infer the variable when exactly one symbol is present
• Leibniz shorthand is accepted: d(sin(x))/dx, df(t)/dt
• name = expr assigns in REPL session (ans is always last result)
• Undefined symbols raise an error

Safety limits

• Expressions longer than 2000 chars are rejected.
• Inputs containing blocked tokens like __, ;, or newlines are rejected.

See DESIGN.md for implementation details.