An operator is a symbol that tells the compiler to perform specific mathematical or

logical manipulations. C language is rich in built-in operators and provides following

type of operators:
·0 Arithmetic Operators
·1 Relational Operators
·2 Logical Operators
·3 Bitwise Operators
·4 Assignment Operators
·5 Misc Operators
This tutorial will explain the arithmetic, relational, and logical, bitwise, assignment and
other operators one by one.

Arithmetic Operators
Following table shows all the arithmetic operators supported by C language. Assume
variable A holds 10 and variable B holds 20 then:
Show Examples
Operato
Description Example
r
+ Adds two operands A + B will give 30
- Subtracts second operand from the first A - B will give -10
* Multiply both operands A * B will give 200
/ Divide numerator by de-numerator B / A will give 2
% Modulus Operator and remainder of after an integer division B % A will give 0
++ Increment operator increases integer value by one A++ will give 11
-- Decrement operator decreases integer value by one A-- will give 9

Relational Operators
Following table shows all the relational operators supported by C language. Assume
variable A holds 10 and variable B holds 20 then:
Show Examples
Oper
Description Example
ator
Checks if the value of two operands is equal or not, if yes then condition (A == B) is
==
becomes true. not true.
 Checks if the value of two operands is equal or not, if values are not equal (A != B) is
!=
then condition becomes true. true.
Checks if the value of left operand is greater than the value of right operand, (A > B) is not
>
if yes then condition becomes true. true.
Checks if the value of left operand is less than the value of right operand, if (A < B) is
<
yes then condition becomes true. true.
Checks if the value of left operand is greater than or equal to the value of (A >= B) is
>=
right operand, if yes then condition becomes true. not true.
Checks if the value of left operand is less than or equal to the value of right (A <= B) is
<=
operand, if yes then condition becomes true. true.

Logical Operators
Following table shows all the logical operators supported by C language. Assume
variable A holds 1 and variable B holds 0 then:
Show Examples
Ope
rato Description Example
r
Called Logical AND operator. If both the operands are non zero then condition (A && B)
&&
becomes true. is false.
Called Logical OR Operator. If any of the two operands is non zero then (A || B) is
||
condition becomes true. true.
Called Logical NOT Operator. Use to reverses the logical state of its operand. If !(A && B)
!
a condition is true then Logical NOT operator will make false. is true.

Bitwise Operators
Bitwise operator works on bits and perform bit by bit operation. The truth tables for &, |,
and ^ are as follows:
pq p&q p|q p^q
000 0 0
010 1 1
111 1 0
100 1 1
Assume if A = 60; and B = 13; Now in binary format they will be as follows:
A = 0011 1100
B = 0000 1101
-----------------
A&B = 0000 1100
A|B = 0011 1101
A^B = 0011 0001
~A = 1100 0011
The Bitwise operators supported by C language are listed in the following table. Assume
variable A holds 60 and variable B holds 13 then:
Show Examples
Ope
rato Description Example
r
Binary AND Operator copies a bit to the result if it exists in both (A & B) will give 12
&
operands. which is 0000 1100
(A | B) will give 61
| Binary OR Operator copies a bit if it exists in either operand.
which is 0011 1101
Binary XOR Operator copies the bit if it is set in one operand but (A ^ B) will give 49
^
not both. which is 0011 0001
Binary Ones Complement Operator is unary and has the effect of (~A ) will give -60
~
'flipping' bits. which is 1100 0011
Binary Left Shift Operator. The left operands value is moved left by A << 2 will give 240
<<
the number of bits specified by the right operand. which is 1111 0000
Binary Right Shift Operator. The left operands value is moved right A >> 2 will give 15
>>
by the number of bits specified by the right operand. which is 0000 1111

Assignment Operators
There are following assignment operators supported by C language:
Show Examples
Ope
rato Description Example
r
Simple assignment operator, Assigns values from right side C = A + B will assign
=
operands to left side operand value of A + B into C
+= Add AND assignment operator, It adds right operand to the left C += A is equivalent to
 operand and assign the result to left operand C=C+A
Subtract AND assignment operator, It subtracts right operand from C -= A is equivalent to
-=
the left operand and assign the result to left operand C=C-A
Multiply AND assignment operator, It multiplies right operand C *= A is equivalent to
*=
with the left operand and assign the result to left operand C=C*A
Divide AND assignment operator, It divides left operand with the C /= A is equivalent to
/=
right operand and assign the result to left operand C=C/A
Modulus AND assignment operator, It takes modulus using two C %= A is equivalent to
%=
operands and assign the result to left operand C=C%A
C <<= 2 is same as C =
<<= Left shift AND assignment operator
C << 2
C >>= 2 is same as C =
>>= Right shift AND assignment operator
C >> 2
C &= 2 is same as C =
&= Bitwise AND assignment operator
C&2
C ^= 2 is same as C = C
^= bitwise exclusive OR and assignment operator
^2
C |= 2 is same as C = C
|= bitwise inclusive OR and assignment operator
|2

Misc Operators &map; sizeof & ternary

There are few other important operators including sizeof and ? : supported by C
Language.
Show Examples
Operat
Description Example
or
sizeof() Returns the size of an variable. sizeof(a), where a is integer, will return 4.
Returns the address of an
& &a; will give actual address of the variable.
variable.
* Pointer to a variable. *a; will pointer to a variable.
If Condition is true ? Then value X : Otherwise value
?: Conditional Expression
Y
Operators Precedence in C
Operator precedence determines the grouping of terms in an expression. This affects how
an expression is evaluated. Certain operators have higher precedence than others; for
example, the multiplication operator has higher precedence than the addition operator:
For example x = 7 + 3 * 2; Here x is assigned 13, not 20 because operator * has higher
precedence than + so it first get multiplied with 3*2 and then adds into 7.
Here operators with the highest precedence appear at the top of the table, those with the
lowest appear at the bottom. Within an expression, higher precedence operators will be
evaluated first.
Show Examples
Category Operator Associativity
Postfix () [] -> . ++ - - Left to right
Unary + - ! ~ ++ - - (type)* & sizeof Right to left
Multiplicative */% Left to right
Additive +- Left to right
Shift << >> Left to right
Relational < <= > >= Left to right
Equality == != Left to right
Bitwise AND & Left to right
Bitwise XOR ^ Left to right
Bitwise OR | Left to right
Logical AND && Left to right
Logical OR || Left to right
Conditional ?: Right to left
Assignment = += -= *= /= %=>>= <<= &= ^= |= Right to left
Comma , Left to right