First, let us understand what is operator precedence in C programming language.
Operator Precedence
Operator precedence is used to evaluate the order of operators evaluated in an expression. In C programming, every operator has a priority. When there is more than one operator in the given expression, the operator with higher precedence or priority is evaluated first and the operator with the least priority is evaluated later.
Operator Associativity
Operator associativity is used to evaluate the order of operators with equal precedence in an expression. In the C programming language, when an expression contains multiple operators with equal or same precedence, we use associativity to determine the order of evaluation of operators.
The operators and their precedence and associativity is explained in the table given below −
| Precedence | Operator | Operator Meaning | Associativity |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | () [] -> . | Function Call array reference Structure member access Structure member access | Left to Right |
| 2 | ! ~ + - ++ -- & * sizeof(type) | negation 1's complement Unary Plus Unary minus Increment operator decrement operator address of operator pointer returns size of a variable type conversion | Right to Left |
| 3 | * / % | multiplication division remainder | Left to Right |
| 4 | + - | addition subtraction | Left to Right |
| 5 | << >> | left shift right shift | Left to Right |
| 6 | < <= | less than less than or equal to | Left to Right |
| 7 | == != | equal to not equal to | Left to Right |
| 8 | & | bitwise AND | Left to Right |
| 9 | ^ | bitwise EXCLUSIVE OR | Left to Right |
| 10 | | | bitwise OR | Left to Right |
| 11 | && | logical AND | Left to Right |
| 12 | || | logical OR | Left to Right |
| 13 | ?: | Conditional Operator | Left to Right |
| 14 | = *= /= %= += -= &= ^= |= <<= >>= | assignment assign multiplication assign division assign remainder assign addition assign subtraction assign bitwise AND assign bitwise XOR assign bitwise OR assign left shift assign right shif | Right to Left |
| 15 | separator | Left to Right |