C - Operator Types

What is an Operator? Simple answer can be given using expression 4 + 5 is equal to 9. Here
4 and 5 are called operands and + is called operator. C language supports following type of
operators.

 Arithmetic Operators
 Logical (or Relational) Operators
 Bitwise Operators
 Assignment Operators
 Misc Operators

Lets have a look on all operators one by one.

Arithmetic Operators:

There are following arithmetic operators supported by C language:

Assume variable A holds 10 and variable B holds 20 then:

Operator Description Example

4
+ Adds two operands A + B will give 30

Subtracts second operand from the

- A - B will give -10
first

* Multiply both operands A * B will give 200

/ Divide numerator by denumerator B / A will give 2

Modulus Operator and remainder of

% B % A will give 0
after an integer division

Increment operator, increases integer

++ A++ will give 11
value by one

Decrement operator, decreases

-- A-- will give 9
integer value by one
Some Examples

Try following example to understand all the arithmetic operators.

#includ<stdio.h>

main()
{
int a = 21;
int b = 10;
int c ;

c = a + b;
printf("Line 1 - Value of c is %d\n", c );
c = a - b;
printf("Line 2 - Value of c is %d\n", c );
c = a * b;
printf("Line 3 - Value of c is %d\n", c );
c = a / b;
printf("Line 4 - Value of c is %d\n", c );
c = a % b;
printf("Line 5 - Value of c is %d\n", c );
c = a++;
printf("Line 6 - Value of c is %d\n", c );
c = a--;
printf("Line 7 - Value of c is %d\n", c );

return 0;

This will produce following result:

Line 1 - Value of c is 31
Line 2 - Value of c is 11
Line 3 - Value of c is 210
Line 4 - Value of c is 2
Line 5 - Value of c is 1
Line 6 - Value of c is 21
Line 7 - Value of c is 22
Logical (or Relational) Operators:

There are following logical operators supported by C language

Assume variable A holds 10 and variable B holds 20 then:

Operator Description Example

Checks if the value of two operands is

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

Checks if the value of two operands is

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

Checks if the value of left operand is

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

Checks if the value of left operand is

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

Checks if the value of left operand is

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

Checks if the value of left operand is

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

Called Logical AND operator. If both

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

Called Logical OR Operator. If any of

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

Called Logical NOT Operator. Use to

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

Some Examples

Try following example to understand all the Logical operators. Copy and paste following C
program in test.c file and compile and run this program.

#include<stdio.h>

main()
{
int a = 21;
int b = 10;
int c ;

if( a == b )
{
printf("Line 1 - a is equal to b\n" );
}
else
{
 printf("Line 1 - a is not equal to b\n" );
}
if ( a < b )
{
printf("Line 2 - a is less than b\n" );
}
else
{
printf("Line 2 - a is not less than b\n" );
}
if ( a > b )
{
printf("Line 3 - a is greater than b\n" );
}
else
{
printf("Line 3 - a is not greater than b\n" );
}
/* Lets change value of a and b */
a = 5;
b = 20;
if ( a <= b )
{
printf("Line 4 - a is either less than or euqal to
b\n" );
}
if ( b >= a )
{
printf("Line 5 - b is either greater than or equal to
b\n" );
}
if ( a && b )
{
printf("Line 6 - Condition is true\n" );
}
if ( a || b )
{
printf("Line 7 - Condition is true\n" );
}
/* Again lets change the value of a and b */
a = 0;
b = 10;
if ( a && b )
{
printf("Line 8 - Condition is true\n" );
}
 else
{
printf("Line 8 - Condition is not true\n" );
}
if ( !(a && b) )
{
printf("Line 9 - Condition is true\n" );
}
Return 0;
}

This will produce following result:

Line 1 - a is not equal to b

Line 2 - a is not less than b
Line 3 - a is greater than b
Line 4 - a is either less than or euqal to b
Line 5 - b is either greater than or equal to b
Line 6 - Condition is true
Line 7 - Condition is true
Line 8 - Condition is not true
Line 9 - Condition is true

Bitwise Operators:

Bitwise operator works on bits and perform bit by bit operation.

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

There are following Bitwise operators supported by C language

Operator Description Example

Binary AND Operator copies a bit to

& (A & B) will give 12 which is 0000 1100
the result if it exists in both operands.

Binary OR Operator copies a bit if it

| (A | B) will give 61 which is 0011 1101
exists in eather operand.

Binary XOR Operator copies the bit if it

^ (A ^ B) will give 49 which is 0011 0001
is set in one operand but not both.

Binary Ones Complement Operator is

~ unary and has the efect of 'flipping' (~A ) will give -60 which is 1100 0011
bits.

Binary Left Shift Operator. The left

operands value is moved left by the
<< A << 2 will give 240 which is 1111 0000
number of bits specified by the right
operand.

Binary Right Shift Operator. The left

operands value is moved right by the
>> A >> 2 will give 15 which is 0000 1111
number of bits specified by the right
operand.

Some Examples

Try following example to understand all the Bitwise operators

#include<stdio.h>

main()
 {

unsigned int a = 60; /* 60 = 0011 1100 */

unsigned int b = 13; /* 13 = 0000 1101 */
int c = 0;

c = a & b; /* 12 = 0000 1100 */

printf("Line 1 - Value of c is %d\n", c );

c = a | b; /* 61 = 0011 1101 */
printf("Line 2 - Value of c is %d\n", c );

c = a ^ b; /* 49 = 0011 0001 */
printf("Line 3 - Value of c is %d\n", c );

c = ~a; /*-61 = 1100 0011 */

printf("Line 4 - Value of c is %d\n", c );

c = a << 2; /* 240 = 1111 0000 */

printf("Line 5 - Value of c is %d\n", c );

c = a >> 2; /* 15 = 0000 1111 */

printf("Line 6 - Value of c is %d\n", c );
return 0;
}

This will produce following result:

Line 1 - Value of c is 12
Line 2 - Value of c is 61
Line 3 - Value of c is 49
Line 4 - Value of c is -61
Line 5 - Value of c is 240
Line 6 - Value of c is 15

Assignment Operators:

There are following assignment operators supported by C language:

Operator Description Example

 Simple assignment operator,
= Assigns values from right side C = A + B will assigne value of A + B into C
operands to left side operand

Add AND assignment operator, It

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

Subtract AND assignment

operator, It subtracts right
-= operand from the left operand C -= A is equivalent to C = C - A
and assign the result to left
operand

Multiply AND assignment

operator, It multiplies right
*= operand with the left operand C *= A is equivalent to C = C * A
and assign the result to left
operand

Divide AND assignment operator,

It divides left operand with the
/= C /= A is equivalent to C = C / A
right operand and assign the
result to left operand

Modulus AND assignment

operator, It takes modulus using
%= C %= A is equivalent to C = C % A
two operands and assign the
result to left operand

Left shift AND assignment

<<= C <<= 2 is same as C = C << 2
operator

Right shift AND assignment

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

bitwise exclusive OR and

^= C ^= 2 is same as C = C ^ 2
assignment operator

bitwise inclusive OR and

|= C |= 2 is same as C = C | 2
assignment operator

Some Examples

Try following example to understand all the Assignment Operators. Copy and paste following
C program in test.c file and compile and run this program.

#include<stdio.h>

main()
{
int a = 21;
int c ;

c = a;
printf("Line 1 - = Operator Example, Value of c = %d\n",
c );

c += a;
printf("Line 2 - += Operator Example, Value of c = %d\n",
c );

c -= a;
printf("Line 3 - -= Operator Example, Value of c = %d\n",
c );

c *= a;
printf("Line 4 - *= Operator Example, Value of c = %d\n",
c );

c /= a;
printf("Line 5 - /= Operator Example, Value of c = %d\n",
 c );

c = 200;
c %= a;
printf("Line 6 - %= Operator Example, Value of c = %d\n",
c );

c <<= 2;
printf("Line 7 - <<= Operator Example, Value of c = %d\n",
c );

c >>= 2;
printf("Line 8 - >>= Operator Example, Value of c = %d\n",
c );

c &= 2;
printf("Line 9 - &= Operator Example, Value of c = %d\n",
c );

c ^= 2;
printf("Line 10 - ^= Operator Example, Value of c = %d\n",
c );

c |= 2;
printf("Line 11 - |= Operator Example, Value of c = %d\n",
c );
return 0;
}

This will produce following result:

Line 1 - = Operator Example, Value of c = 21

Line 2 - += Operator Example, Value of c = 42
Line 3 - -= Operator Example, Value of c = 21
Line 4 - *= Operator Example, Value of c = 441
Line 5 - /= Operator Example, Value of c = 21
Line 6 - %= Operator Example, Value of c = 11
Line 7 - <<= Operator Example, Value of c = 44
Line 8 - >>= Operator Example, Value of c = 11
Line 9 - &= Operator Example, Value of c = 2
 Line 10 - ^= Operator Example, Value of c = 0
Line 11 - |= Operator Example, Value of c = 2

Short Notes on L-VALUE and R-VALUE:

x = 1; takes the value on the right (e.g. 1) and puts it in the memory referenced by x. Here x
and 1 are known as L-VALUES and R-VALUES respectively L-values can be on either side
of the assignment operator where as R-values only appear on the right.

So x is an L-value because it can appear on the left as we've just seen, or on the right like this:
y = x; However, constants like 1 are R-values because 1 could appear on the right, but 1 = x;
is invalid.

Misc Operators

There are few other operators supported by C Language.

Some Examples

Operator Description Example

sizeof() Returns the size of an variable. sizeof(a), where a is interger, will return 4.

Returns the address of an

& &a; will give actaul address of the variable.
variable.

* Pointer to a variable. *a; will pointer to a variable.

If Condition is true ? Then value X :

?: Conditional Expression
Otherwise value Y

Examples
Try following example to understand sizeof operators. Copy and paste following C program
in test.c file and compile and run this program.

#include<stdio.h>

main()
{
int a;
short b;
double double c;
char d[10];

printf("Line 1 - Size of variable a = %d\n", sizeof(a) );

printf("Line 2 - Size of variable b = %d\n", sizeof(b) );
printf("Line 3 - Size of variable c= %d\n", sizeof(c) );
printf("Line 4 - Size of variable d= %d\n", sizeof(d) );
/* For character string strlen should be used instead of
sizeof */
printf("Line 5 - Size of variable d= %d\n", strlen(d) );
return 0;
}

This will produce following result:

Line 1 - Size of variable a = 4

Line 2 - Size of variable b = 2
Line 3 - Size of variable c= 8
Line 4 - Size of variable d= 10
Line 5 - Size of variable d= 10

& and * Operators:

Try following example to understand & operators.

#include<stdio.h>

main()
{
int i=4; /* variable declaration */
int* ptr; /* int pointer */

ptr = &i; /* 'ptr' now contains the

address of 'i' */
 printf(" i is %d.\n", i);
printf("*ptr is %d.\n", *ptr);
return 0;
}

This will produce following result:

i is 4.
*ptr is 4.

? : Operator

Try following example to understand ? : operators.

#include<stdio.h>

main()
{
int a , b;

a = 10;
b = (a == 1) ? 20: 30;
printf( "Value of b is %d\n", b );

b = (a == 10) ? 20: 30;

printf( "Value of b is %d\n", b );
}

This will produce following result:

Value of b is 30
Value of b is 20

Operators Categories:

All the operators we have discussed above can be categorised into following categories:

 Postfix operators, which follow a single operand.

  Unary prefix operators, which precede a single operand.
 Binary operators, which take two operands and perform a variety of arithmetic and
logical operations.
 The conditional operator (a ternary operator), which takes three operands and
evaluates either the second or third expression, depending on the evaluation of the first
expression.
 Assignment operators, which assign a value to a variable.
 The comma operator, which guarantees left-to-right evaluation of comma-separated
expressions.

Precedence of C Operators:

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
precedenace 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 precedenace operators will be
evaluated first.

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