An operator is specially a symbol that tells compiler to perform specific manipulation. C++ contains various different types of operators.
Types of C++ Operators
- Arithmetic Operators
- Logical Operators
- Relational Operators
- Assignment Operators
- Bitwise Operators
- Misc. Operators
Arithmetic Operators
Arithmetic operators are used to perform basic mathematical operation such as addition (+), subtraction (-), multiplication (*), division (/) etc.
Let’s assume two variables A and B containing value 5 and 10 respectively, performs following arithmetic operations.
| Operator | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
| + | Add operation | A+B gives 15 |
| – | Subtract second operand from first | A-B gives -5 |
| * | Multiply operand | A*B gives 50 |
| / | Divides numerator by de-numerator | B/A gives 2 |
| % | Modulus operation | B%A gives 0 |
Logical Operators
Logical operators are used to check condition between operands such as AND (&&), OR (||) and NOT (!).
AND (&&) Operator
&& operator returns true value if all operand are true else it returns false.
| A | B | A&&B |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 0 | 0 | 0 |
OR (||) Operator
|| operator returns true value if any one operand are true else it returns false.
| A | B | A||B |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 0 | 0 | 0 |
NOT (!) Operator
! operator returns inverse result. If condition is true it returns false and if condition is false it returns true.
| A | !A |
|---|---|
| 1 | 0 |
| 0 | 1 |
Relational Operators
Relational operator shows the relation and compare between operands. Following are the different relational operations.
Let’s assume two variables A and B containing value 5 and 10 respectively, performs following relational operations.
| Operator | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
| == | Check equality of both operands | (A==B) false |
| != | Check first operand is not equal to second | (A!=B) true |
| < | Check first operand is less than second | (A<B) true |
| > | Check first operand is greater than second | (A>B) false |
| <= | Check first operand is less or equal to second | (A<=B) true |
| >= | Check first operand is greater or equal to second | (A>=B)false |
Assignment Operators (=)
Assignment operator “=” assigns a value to another variable. The assignment of value takes from right to left.
| Operator | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
| = | It simply assigns a value to variable | A = 5; |
| += | Add and assign | A += B; is equivalent to A=A+B; |
| -= | Subtract and assign | A -= B; is equivalent to A=A-B; |
| *= | Multiply and assign | A *=B; is equivalent to A=A*B; |
| /= | Divide and assign | A /=B; is equivalent to A=A/B; |
Bitwise Operator
Bitwise operator works on bit. It is used to change individual bits into a number. Bitwise operators modify variable according to bit patterns. Following are the different bitwise operators:
| Operator | Description |
|---|---|
| & | Bitwise AND |
| | | Bitwise OR |
| ^ | Bitwise XOR |
| ~ | Bitwise NOT |
| << | Bitwise left shift |
| >> | Bitwise right shift |
Misc Operators
Some other misc. operators are:
| Operators | Description |
|---|---|
| sizeof | sizeof operator |
| , | Comma operator |
| cast | Type cast operator |
| Condition ? A : B | Conditional operator |
| & | Pointer Operator |
| * | Pointer Operator |
Precedence of C++ Operators
The precedence of operator determines the sequence of operator to evaluate first. The higher precedence operator evaluate first and next.
For example a statement x = 5 + 6 * 2; gives 17 not 22. This expression perform multiplication (*) operation first then addition (+), as multiplication precedence is higher than addition.
Following table describe precedence of different operator.
| 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 |