expr command: number limitation... how high can it goes???

[pho01]

how high a number goes for an expr command?

in a shell script, I have:

total_max_bytes=`expr $total_max_bytes + $max_bytes`

Suprising, it goes down to negative. the script failed to capture the number:

I ran this manually from the command line:
expr 427819080 + 2139095040

result returns: -1728053176 (????) instead of 6417285120

how do I handle large number in a regular addition?

Thanks,

 

[johngiggs]

pho01,

bc should work fine. The correct answer is 2566914120.

echo "427819080 + 2139095040"| bc
2566914120

John

 

[johngiggs]

pho01,

From man expr...

Internally, integers are treated as 32-bit, 2's complement numbers.

So you can add up to two 9-digit numbers together.

John