How to Take Operator as Input in C++?
Last Updated :
09 Feb, 2024
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Operators are symbols that specify some kind of operation. In C++, we sometimes need to take operators as user input mainly to perform mathematical operations. In this article, we will learn how to take operators as user input in C++.
Operators as Input in C++
To take operators (like +,-,*,/ etc) as user input, we can use a char datatype to read the operator as a character using cin and then validate whether the entered operator is valid or not using a switch or conditional statements.
C++ Program to Take Operator as Input
The below example demonstrates how we can take the operator as user input, validate it, and perform mathematical calculations.
// C++ program to take operator as input
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
int main()
{
// Declaring variables to store two numbers and the
// operator
double num1, num2;
char op;
// Get the first number from the user
cout << "Enter the first number: ";
cin >> num1;
// Get the second number from the user
cout << "Enter the second number: ";
cin >> num2;
// Get the arithmetic operator from the user
cout << "Enter the arithmetic operator (+, -, *, /): ";
cin >> op;
// Declare a variable to store the result of the
// operation
double result;
// Use a switch statement to perform the operation based
// on the operator
switch (op) {
case '+':
result = num1 + num2;
break;
case '-':
result = num1 - num2;
break;
case '*':
result = num1 * num2;
break;
case '/':
// Check if the second number is not zero before
// performing division
if (num2 != 0) {
result = num1 / num2;
}
else {
cout << "Error: Division by zero." << endl;
return 1; // Return an error code
}
break;
default:
cout << "Error: Invalid operator." << endl;
return 1; // Return an error code
}
// Display the result of the operation
cout << "Result: " << result << endl;
return 0;
}
Output
Enter the first number: 8
Enter the second number: 2
Enter the arithmetic operator (+, -, *, /): /
Result: 4
