# 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; ``` ## 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/)