Basic C Operators

Operator
• An operator is a symbol which operates on a value or a variable. For
example: + is an operator to perform addition.
Types of Operators
• Arithmetic Operators
• Increment and Decrement Operators
• Assignment Operators
• Relational Operators
• Logical Operators
• Conditional Operators
• Bitwise Operators
• Special Operators
Arithmetic Operators
• An arithmetic operator performs mathematical operations such as addition,
subtraction and multiplication on numerical values (constants and variables).
Example #1
•{
int a = 9,b = 4, c;
c = a+b;
printf("a+b = %d \n",c);
c = a-b;
printf("a-b = %d \n",c);
c = a*b;
printf("a*b = %d \n",c);
c=a/b;
printf("a/b = %d \n",c);
c=a%b;
printf("Remainder when a divided by b = %d \n",c);
return 0;
}
Output
a+b = 13
a-b = 5
a*b = 36
a/b = 2
Remainder when a divided by b=1
Increment and decrement operators
• C programming has two operators increment ++ and decrement -- to
change the value of an operand (constant or variable) by 1.
• Increment ++ increases the value by 1 whereas decrement -- decreases
the value by 1.
• These two operators are unary operators, meaning they only operate
on a single operand.
Example #2
• #include <stdio.h>
int main()
{
int a = 10, b = 100;
float c = 10.5, d = 100.5;
printf("++a = %d \n", ++a);
printf("--b = %d \n", --b);
printf("++c = %f \n", ++c);
printf("--d = %f \n", --d);
return 0;
}
Output
• ++c = 11.500000
++d = 99.500000
Assignment Operators
• An assignment operator is used for assigning a value to a variable. The
most common assignment operator is =
Example #3
• int main()
{
int a = 5, c;
c = a;
printf("c = %d \n", c);
c += a; // c = c+a
printf("c = %d \n", c);
c *= a; // c = c*a
printf("c = %d \n", c);
c /= a; // c = c/a
printf("c = %d \n", c);
c %= a; // c = c%a
printf("c = %d \n", c);
return 0;
}
Output
•c=5
c = 10
c=5
c = 25
c=5
c=0
Relational Operators
• A relational operator checks the relationship between two operands. If
the relation is true, it returns 1; if the relation is false, it returns value
0.
• Relational operators are used in decision making and loops.
Example #4
• int main()
{
int a = 5, b = 5, c = 10;
printf("%d == %d = %d \n", a, b, a == b); // true
printf("%d == %d = %d \n", a, c, a == c); // false
printf("%d > %d = %d \n", a, b, a > b); //false
printf("%d > %d = %d \n", a, c, a > c); //false
printf("%d < %d = %d \n", a, b, a < b); //false
printf("%d < %d = %d \n", a, c, a < c); //true
printf("%d != %d = %d \n", a, b, a != b); //false
printf("%d != %d = %d \n", a, c, a != c); //true
printf("%d >= %d = %d \n", a, b, a >= b); //true
printf("%d >= %d = %d \n", a, c, a >= c); //false
printf("%d <= %d = %d \n", a, b, a <= b); //true
printf("%d <= %d = %d \n", a, c, a <= c); //true
return 0;
}
Output
• 5 == 5 = 1
5 == 10 = 0
5>5=0
5 > 10 = 0
5<5=0
5 < 10 = 1
5 != 5 = 0
5 != 10 = 1
5 >= 5 = 1
5 >= 10 = 0
5 <= 5 = 1
5 <= 10 = 1
Logical Operators
• An expression containing logical operator returns either 0 or 1
depending upon whether expression results true or false. Logical
operators are commonly used in decision making in C programming.
Example #5
• int main()
{
int a = 5, b = 5, c = 10, result;
result = (a == b) && (c > b);
printf("(a == b) && (c > b) equals to %d \n", result);
result = (a == b) && (c < b);
printf("(a == b) && (c < b) equals to %d \n", result);
result = (a == b) || (c < b);
printf("(a == b) || (c < b) equals to %d \n", result);
result = (a != b) || (c < b);
printf("(a != b) || (c < b) equals to %d \n", result);
result = !(a != b);
printf("!(a == b) equals to %d \n", result);
result = !(a == b);
printf("!(a == b) equals to %d \n", result);
return 0;
}
Output
Bitwise Operators
• During computation, mathematical operations like: addition,
subtraction, addition and division are converted to bit-level which
makes processing faster and saves power.
• Bitwise operators are used in C programming to perform bit-level
operations.
• Bitwise operator works on bits and perform bit-by-bit operation. The
truth tables for &, |, and ^ are as follows:
Other Operators
• Comma
• Sizeof()
Comma and sizeof()
• Comma operators are used to link related expressions together. For
example:
• int a, c = 5, d;
The sizeof operator
• The sizeof is an unary operator which returns the size of data
(constant, variables, array, structure etc).
Example #6
• int main()
{
int a, e[10];
float b;
double c;
char d;
printf("Size of int=%lu bytes\n",sizeof(a));
printf("Size of float=%lu bytes\n",sizeof(b));
printf("Size of double=%lu bytes\n",sizeof(c));
printf("Size of char=%lu byte\n",sizeof(d));
printf("Size of integer type array having 10 elements = %lu bytes\n", sizeof
return 0;
}
Output
• Size of int = 4 bytes
Size of float = 4 bytes
Size of double = 8 bytes
Size of char = 1 byte
Size of integer type array having 10 elements = 40 bytes
Ternary Operator (?:)
• A conditional operator is a ternary operator, that is, it works on 3
operands.
• Conditional Operator Syntax
conditionalExpression ? expression1 : expression2
• The conditional operator works as follows:
• The first expression conditionalExpression is evaluated first. This
expression evaluates to 1 if it's true and evaluates to 0 if it's false.
• If conditionalExpression is true, expression1 is evaluated.
• If conditionalExpression is false, expression2 is evaluated.
• Condition ? Expression1 : Expression2
The statement above is equivalent to:
if (Condition)
Expression1
else
Expression2
if/else statement:
if (total > 60)
grade = ‘P’
else
grade = ‘F’;
Conditional Statement
• total > 60 ? grade = ‘P’: grade = ‘F’;
OR
grade = total > 60 ? ‘P’: ‘F’;

• if/else statement:
if (total > 60)
printf(“Passed!!\n”);
else
printf(“Failed!!\n”);
Conditional Statement:
printf(“%s!!\n”, total > 60? “Passed”: “Failed”);
Example #7
• int main(){
char February;
int days;
printf("If this year is leap year, enter 1. If not enter any integer: ");
scanf("%c",&February);
// If test condition (February == 'l') is true, days equal to 29.
// If test condition (February =='l') is false, days equal to 28.
days = (February == '1') ? 29 : 28;
printf("Number of days in February = %d",days);
return 0;
}
Output
• If this year is leap year, enter 1. If not enter any integer: 1
Number of days in February = 29
• Other operators such as & (reference operator), * (dereference
operator) and -> (member selection) operator will be discussed in C
pointers.
Precedence Rules
• Precedence rules come into play when there is a mixed of arithmetic
operators in one statement. For example: x = 3 * a - ++b%3;
• The rules specify which of the operators will be evaluated first.
For example: x = 3 * a - ++b % 3;
how would this statement be evaluated?
If we intend to have the statement evaluated differently from the way specified by the
precedence rules, we need to specify it using parentheses ( )
Using parenthesis, we will have
x = 3 * ((a - ++b)%3);
The expression inside a parentheses will be evaluated first.
The inner parentheses will be evaluated earlier compared to the outer parentheses.
SUMMARY
This chapter exposed you the operators used in C
Arithmetic operators
Assignment operators
Equalities and relational operators
Logical operators
Conditional operator
Precedence levels come into play when there is a mixed of arithmetic
operators in one statement.
Pre/post fix - effects the result of statement