There are many types of operators in C++. These can be broadly categorized as: arithmetic, relational, logical, bitwise, assignment and other operators.
Arithmetic Operators
Assume variable A holds 10 and variable B holds 20, then −
| Operator | Description |
| + | Adds two operands. A + B will give 30 |
| - | Subtracts second operand from the first. A - B will give -10 |
| * | Multiplies both operands. A * B will give 200 |
| / | Divides 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
Assume variable A holds 10 and variable B holds 20, then −
| Operator | Description |
| == | Checks if the values of two operands are equal or not, if yes then condition becomes true. (A == B) is not true. |
| != | Checks if the values of two operands are equal or not, if values are not equal then condition becomes true.(A != B) is true. |
| > | Checks if the value of left operand is greater than the value of right operand, if yes then condition becomes true.(A > B) is not true. |
| < | Checks if the value of left operand is less than the value of right operand, if yes then condition becomes true.(A < B) is true. |
| >= | Checks if the value of left operand is greater than or equal to the value of right operand, if yes then condition becomes true.(A >= B) is not true. |
| <= | Checks if the value of left operand is less than or equal to the value of right operand, if yes then condition becomes true.(A <= B) is true. |
Logical Operators
Assume variable A holds 1 and variable B holds 0, then −
| Operator | Description |
| && | Called Logical AND operator. If both the operands are non-zero, then condition becomes true.(A && B) is false. |
| || | Called Logical OR Operator. If any of the two operands is non-zero, then condition becomes true.(A || B) is true. |
| ! | Called Logical NOT Operator. Use to reverses the logical state of its operand. If a condition is true, then Logical NOT operator will make false.!(A && B) is true. |
Bitwise Operators
Bitwise operator works on bits and perform bit-by-bit operation. The truth tables for &, |, and ^ are as follows.
pqp & qp | qp ^ q 00000 01011 11110 10011
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
| Operator | Description |
| & | Binary AND Operator copies a bit to the result if it exists in both operands.(A & B) will give 12 which is 0000 1100 |
| | | Binary OR Operator copies a bit if it exists in either operand.(A | B) will give 61 which is 0011 1101 |
| ^ | Binary XOR Operator copies the bit if it is set in one operand but not both.(A ^ B) will give 49 which is 0011 0001 |
| ~ | Binary Ones Complement Operator is unary and has the effect of 'flipping' bits.(~A ) will give -61 which is 1100 0011 in 2's complement form due to a signed binary number. |
| << | Binary Left Shift Operator. The left operands value is moved left by the number of bits specified by the right operand.A << 2 will give 240 which is 1111 0000 |
| >> | Binary Right Shift Operator. The left operands value is moved right by the number of bits specified by the right operand.A >> 2 will give 15 which is 0000 1111 |
Assignment Operators
| Operator | Description |
| = | Simple assignment operator, Assigns values from right side operands to left side operand.C = A + B will assign value of A + B into C |
| += | Add AND assignment operator, It adds right operand to the left operand and assign the result to left operand.C += A is equivalent to C = C + A |
| -= | Subtract AND assignment operator, It subtracts right operand from the left operand and assign the result to left operand.C -= A is equivalent to C = C - A |
| *= | Multiply AND assignment operator, It multiplies right operand with the left operand and assign the result to left operand.C *= A is equivalent to C = C * A |
| /= | Divide AND assignment operator, It divides left operand with the right operand and assign the result to left operand.C /= A is equivalent to C = C / A |
| %= | Modulus AND assignment operator, It takes modulus using two operands and assign the result to left operand.C %= A is equivalent to C = C % A |
| <<= | Left shift AND assignment operator.C <<= 2 is same as C = C << 2 |
| >>= | Right shift AND assignment operator.C >>= 2 is same as C = C >> 2 |
| &= | Bitwise AND assignment operator.C &= 2 is same as C = C & 2 |
| ^= | Bitwise exclusive OR and assignment operator.C ^= 2 is same as C = C ^ 2 |
| |= | Bitwise inclusive OR and assignment operator.C |= 2 is same as C = C | 2 |
Misc Operators
| Sr.No | Operator |
| 1 | sizeof operator returns the size of a variable. For example, sizeof(a), where ‘a’ is integer, and will return 4. |
| 2 | Conditional operator (?:) If Condition is true then it returns value of X otherwise returns value of Y. |
| 3 | Comma operator causes a sequence of operations to be performed. The value of the entire comma expression is the value of the last expression of the comma-separated list. |
| 4 | (dot) and → (arrow) Member operators are used to reference individual members of classes, structures, and unions. |
| 5 | () - Casting operators convert one data type to another. For example, int(2.2000) would return 2. |
| 6 | Pointer operator & returns the address of a variable. For example &a; will give the actual address of the variable. |
| 7 | Pointer operator * is pointer to a variable. For example *var; will pointer to a variable var. |