6/16/24, 11:04 AM C - Operators

C - Operators
An operator is a symbol that tells the compiler to perform specific mathematical or
logical functions. By definition, an operator performs a certain operation on
operands. An operator needs one or more operands for the operation to be
performed.

Depending on how many operands are required to perform the operation, operands
are called as unary, binary or ternary operators. They need one, two or three
operands respectively.

Unary operators − ++ (increment), -- (decrement), ! (NOT), ~

(compliment), & (address of), * (dereference)
Binary operators − arithmetic, logical and relational operators except !
Ternary operators − The ? operator

C language is rich in built-in operators and provides the following types of operators
−

Arithmetic Operators
Relational Operators
Logical Operators
Bitwise Operators
Assignment Operators
Misc Operators

We will, in this chapter, look into the way each operator works. Here, you will get an
overview of all these chapters. Thereafter, we have provided independent chapters
on each of these operators that contain plenty of examples to show how these
operators work in C Programming.

Arithmetic Operators
We are most familiar with the arithmetic operators. These operators are used to
perform arithmetic operations on operands. The most common arithmetic operators
are addition (+), subtraction (-), multiplication (*), and division (/).

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In addition, the modulo (%) is an important arithmetic operator that computes the
remainder of a division operation. Arithmetic operators are used in forming an
arithmetic expression. These operators are binary in nature in the sense they need
two operands, and they operate on numeric operands, which may be numeric
literals, variables or expressions.

For example, take a look at this simple expression −

a+b

Here "+" is an arithmetic operator. We shall learn more about arithmetic operators in
C in a subsequent chapter.

The following table shows all the arithmetic operators supported by the C language.
Assume variable A holds 10 and variable B holds 20 then −

Show Examples

Operator Description Example

+ Adds two operands. A + B = 30

− Subtracts second operand from the first. A − B = -10

* Multiplies both operands. A * B = 200

/ Divides numerator by de-numerator. B/A=2

Modulus Operator and remainder of after an

% B%A=0
integer division.

Increment operator increases the integer

++ A++ = 11
value by one.

Decrement operator decreases the integer

-- A-- = 9
value by one.

Relational Operators
We are also acquainted with relational operators while learning secondary
mathematics. These operators are used to compare two operands and return a
boolean value (true or false). They are used in a boolean expression.

The most common relational operators are less than (<), greater than (>), less than
or equal to (<=), greater than or equal to (>=), equal to (==), and not equal to

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(!=). Relational operators are also binary operators, needing two numeric operands.

For example, in the Boolean expression −

a>b

Here, ">" is a relational operator.

We shall learn more about with relational operators and their usage in one of the
following chapters.

Show Examples

Operator Description Example

Checks if the values of two operands are

== equal or not. If yes, then the condition (A == B) is not true.
becomes true.

Checks if the values of two operands are

!= equal or not. If the values are not equal, (A != B) is true.
then the condition becomes true.

Checks if the value of left operand is greater

> than the value of right operand. If yes, then (A > B) is not true.
the condition becomes true.

Checks if the value of left operand is less

< than the value of right operand. If yes, then (A < B) is true.
the condition becomes true.

Checks if the value of left operand is greater

>= than or equal to the value of right operand. (A >= B) is not true.
If yes, then the condition becomes true.

Checks if the value of left operand is less

<= than or equal to the value of right operand. (A <= B) is true.
If yes, then the condition becomes true.

Logical Operators
These operators are used to combine two or more boolean expressions. We can form
a compound Boolean expression by combining Boolean expression with these
operators. An example of logical operator is as follows −

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a >= 50 && b >= 50

The most common logical operators are AND (&&), OR(||), and NOT (!). Logical
operators are also binary operators.

Show Examples

Operator Description Example

Called Logical AND operator. If both the

&& operands are non-zero, then the condition (A && B) is false.
becomes true.

Called Logical OR Operator. If any of the two

|| operands is non-zero, then the condition (A || B) is true.
becomes true.

Called Logical NOT Operator. It is used to

reverse the logical state of its operand. If a
! !(A && B) is true.
condition is true, then Logical NOT operator
will make it false.

We will discuss more about Logical Operators in C in a subsequent chapter.

Bitwise Operators
Bitwise operators let you manipulate data stored in computer’s memory. These
operators are used to perform bit-level operations on operands.

The most common bitwise operators are AND (&), OR (|), XOR (^), NOT (~), left
shift (<<), and right shift (>>). Here the "~" operator is a unary operator, while
most of the other bitwise operators are binary in narure.

Bitwise operator works on bits and perform bit−by−bit operation. The truth tables
for &, "|", and "^" are as follows −

p q p&q p|q p^q

0 0 0 0 0

0 1 0 1 1

1 1 1 1 0

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1 0 0 1 1

Assume A = 60 and B = 13 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 following table lists the bitwise operators supported by C. Assume variable 'A'
holds 60 and variable 'B' holds 13, then −

Show Examples

Operator Description Example

Binary AND Operator copies a bit to the (A & B) = 12, i.e., 0000
&
result if it exists in both operands. 1100

Binary OR Operator copies a bit if it exists in (A | B) = 61, i.e., 0011

|
either operand. 1101

Binary XOR Operator copies the bit if it is (A ^ B) = 49, i.e., 0011

^
set in one operand but not both. 0001

Binary One's Complement Operator is unary (~A ) = ~(60), i.e,.

~
and has the effect of 'flipping' bits. -0111101

Binary Left Shift Operator. The left operands

A << 2 = 240 i.e.,
<< value is moved left by the number of bits
1111 0000
specified by the right operand.

Binary Right Shift Operator. The left

operands value is moved right by the A >> 2 = 15 i.e., 0000
>>
number of bits specified by the right 1111
operand.

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Assignment Operators
As the name suggests, an assignment operator "assigns" or sets a value to a named
variable in C. These operators are used to assign values to variables. The "=" symbol
is defined as assignment operator in C, however it is not to be confused with its
usage in mathematics.

The following table lists the assignment operators supported by the C language −

Show Examples

Operator Description Example

Simple assignment operator. Assigns values C = A + B will assign

=
from right side operands to left side operand the value of A + B to C

Add AND assignment operator. It adds the

C += A is equivalent to
+= right operand to the left operand and assign
C=C+A
the result to the left operand.

Subtract AND assignment operator. It

subtracts the right operand from the left C -= A is equivalent to
-=
operand and assigns the result to the left C=C-A
operand.

Multiply AND assignment operator. It

multiplies the right operand with the left C *= A is equivalent to
*=
operand and assigns the result to the left C=C*A
operand.

Divide AND assignment operator. It divides

C /= A is equivalent to
/= the left operand with the right operand and
C=C/A
assigns the result to the left operand.

Modulus AND assignment operator. It takes

C %= A is equivalent to
%= modulus using two operands and assigns
C=C%A
the result to the left operand.

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

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C &= 2 is same as C =
&= Bitwise AND assignment operator.
C&2

Bitwise exclusive OR and assignment C ^= 2 is same as C =

^=
operator. C^2

Bitwise inclusive OR and assignment C |= 2 is same as C =

|=
operator. C|2

Hence, the expression "a = 5" assigns 5 to the variable "a", but "5 = a" is an invalid
expression in C.

The "=" operator, combined with the other arithmetic, relational and bitwise
operators form augmented assignment operators. For example, the += operator is
used as add and assign operator. The most common assignment operators are =,
+=, -=, *=, /=, %=, &=, |=, and ^=.

Misc Operators ↦ sizeof & ternary

Besides the operators discussed above, there are a few other important operators
including sizeof and ? : supported by the C Language.

Show Examples

Operator Description Example

sizeof(a), where a is integer, will

sizeof() Returns the size of a variable.
return 4.

&a; returns the actual address of

& Returns the address of a variable.
the variable.

* Pointer to a variable. *a;

If Condition is true ? then value X

?: Conditional Expression.
: otherwise value Y

Operators Precedence in C
Operator precedence determines the grouping of terms in an expression and decides
how an expression is evaluated. Certain operators have higher precedence than
others; for example, the multiplication operator has a higher precedence than the
addition operator.

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For example, x = 7 + 3 * 2; here, x is assigned 13, not 20 because operator * has a

higher precedence than +, so it first gets 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

Other Operators in C
Apart from the above, there are a few other operators in C that are not classified
into any of the above categories. For example, the increment and decrement
operators (++ and --) are unary in nature and can appear as a prefix or postfix to
the operand.

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The operators that work with the address of memory location such as the address-of
operator (&) and the dereference operator (*). The sizeof operator (sizeof) appears
to be a keyword but really an operator.

C also has the type cast operator (()) that forces the type of an operand to be
changed. C also uses the dot (.) and the arrow (->) symbols as operators when
dealing with derived data types such as struct and union.

The C99 version of C introduced a few additional operators such as auto, decltype.

A single expression in C may have multiple operators of different type. The C

compiler evaluates its value based on the operator precedence and associativity of
operators. For example, in the following expression −

a+b*c

The multiplication operand takes precedence over the addition operator.

We shall understand these properties with examples in a subsequent chapter.

Many other programming languages, which are called C-family languages (such as
C++, C#, Java, Perl and PHP) have an operator nomenclature that is similar to C.

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