# babel-plugin-transform-exponentiation-operator > Compile exponentiation operator to ES5 ## Example ```js // x ** y let squared = 2 ** 2; // same as: 2 * 2 let cubed = 2 ** 3; // same as: 2 * 2 * 2 // x **= y let a = 2; a **= 2; // same as: a = a * a; let b = 3; b **= 3; // same as: b = b * b * b; ``` [Try in REPL](http://babeljs.io/repl/#?evaluate=true&presets=es2015%2Cstage-0&code=%2F%2F%20x%20**%20y%0A%0Alet%20squared%20%3D%202%20**%202%3B%0A%2F%2F%20same%20as%3A%202%20*%202%0A%0Alet%20cubed%20%3D%202%20**%203%3B%0A%2F%2F%20same%20as%3A%202%20*%202%20*%202%0A%0A%0A%2F%2F%20x%20**%3D%20y%0A%0Alet%20a%20%3D%202%3B%0Aa%20**%3D%202%3B%0A%2F%2F%20same%20as%3A%20a%20%3D%20a%20*%20a%3B%0A%0Alet%20b%20%3D%203%3B%0Ab%20**%3D%203%3B%0A%2F%2F%20same%20as%3A%20b%20%3D%20b%20*%20b%20*%20b%3B) ## Installation ```sh npm install --save-dev babel-plugin-transform-exponentiation-operator ``` ## Usage ### Via `.babelrc` (Recommended) **.babelrc** ```json { "plugins": ["transform-exponentiation-operator"] } ``` ### Via CLI ```sh babel --plugins transform-exponentiation-operator script.js ``` ### Via Node API ```javascript require("babel-core").transform("code", { plugins: ["transform-exponentiation-operator"] }); ``` ## References * [Proposal: Exponentiation Operator](https://github.com/rwaldron/exponentiation-operator) * [Spec: Exponential Operator](https://rwaldron.github.io/exponentiation-operator/)