Operators in C - Tutorial And Example

An operator is a special symbol that tells the compiler to perform specific mathematical or logical operations. It is the combination of constants and variables through expressions.

Example:


int c = a+b*5

int c = a+b*5

Where, =, +,* are operators, a,b,c are the variables and 5 is the constants.

There are various types of the operator in C Language.

Types of Operator

Arithmetic Operators
Relational Operators
Logical Operators
Bitwise Operators
Assignment Operators
Misc Operators
Increment/Decrement operators

Arithmetic Operators

Arithmetic operators are used to perform mathematical calculations like addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and modulus.

Operator	Example (int a=9, b=2)	Result
+	A+B	11
–	A-B	7
*	A*B	18
/	A/B	4.5
%	A%4	1

Example:


#include <stdio.h>
int main()
{
int a=9,b=2, add,sub,mul,div,mod;
add = a+b;
sub = a-b;
mul = a*b;
div = a/b;
mod = a%b;
printf("Addition of (a+b ) is : %d\n", add);
printf("Subtraction of (a-b) is : %d\n", sub);
printf("Multiplication of (a*b) is : %d\n", mul);
printf("Division of (a / b) is : %d\n", div);
printf("Modulus of (a%b) is : %d\n", mod);
}

#include <stdio.h>

int main()

{

int a=9,b=2, add,sub,mul,div,mod;

add = a+b;

sub = a-b;

mul = a*b;

div = a/b;

mod = a%b;

printf("Addition of (a+b ) is : %d\n", add);

printf("Subtraction of (a-b) is : %d\n", sub);

printf("Multiplication of (a*b) is : %d\n", mul);

printf("Division of (a / b) is : %d\n", div);

printf("Modulus of (a%b) is : %d\n", mod);

}

Output:


Addition of (a+b ) is : 11
Subtraction of (a-b) is : 7
Multiplication of (a*b) is : 18
Division of (a / b) is : 4
Modulus of (a%b) is : 1

Addition of (a+b ) is : 11

Subtraction of (a-b) is : 7

Multiplication of (a*b) is : 18

Division of (a / b) is : 4

Modulus of (a%b) is : 1

Relational Operators

Relational operators are used to compare the value of two variables.

Operator	Description
>	x > y (x is greater than y)
<	x < y (x is less than y)
>=	x >= y (x is greater than or equal to y)
<=	x <= y (x is less than or equal to y)
==	x == y (x is equal to y)
!=	x != y (x is not equal to y)

Let us consider an example


#include <stdio.h>
int main()
{
int a=9,b=2;
if (a == b)
{
printf("a and b are equal");
}
else
{
printf("a and b are not equal");
}
}

#include <stdio.h>

int main()

{

int a=9,b=2;

if (a == b)

{

printf("a and b are equal");

}

else

{

printf("a and b are not equal");

}

Output


a and b are not equal

a and b are not equal

Logical Operators

Logical operators are used to perform logical operations on the given two variables. There are 3 logical operators in C LanguageAND(&&), OR ( || ) and NOT (!).

Operator	Description
&&	It returns true when both conditions are true.
\|\|	It returns true while at least one condition is true.
!	It reverses the state of the operand.

Let us consider an example


#include <stdio.h>
int main()
{
int a=8, b=3, c=10;
if(a>b && b<c){
printf("$$Operator : Both Condition are true \n");
}
if(a>b || b<c){
printf("||Operator : Only one condition is true \n");
}
return 0;
}

#include <stdio.h>

int main()

{

int a=8, b=3, c=10;

if(a>b && b<c){

printf("$$Operator : Both Condition are true \n");

}

if(a>b || b<c){

printf("||Operator : Only one condition is true \n");

}

return 0;

}

Output


$$Operator : Both Condition are true 
||Operator : Only one condition is true

$$Operator : Both Condition are true

||Operator : Only one condition is true

Assignment operators

Assignment operators are used to assign the values for the variable.

Operator	Description
=	sum = 10; 10 is assigned to variable sum
+=	sum += 10; This is same as sum = sum + 10
-=	sum -= 10; It is same as sum = sum – 10
*=	sum = 10; It is same as sum = sum 10
/=	sum /= 10; It is same as sum = sum / 10
%=	sum %= 10; It is same as sum = sum % 10
&=	sum&=10; It is same as sum = sum & 10
^=	sum ^= 10; It is same as sum = sum ^ 10

Let us consider an example


#include <stdio.h>
int main(){
int a=8,b=3,c;
c=a+b;
printf("a+b value is assign to c");
return 0;
}

#include <stdio.h>

int main(){

int a=8,b=3,c;

c=a+b;

printf("a+b value is assign to c");

return 0;

}

Output


a+b value is assign to c

a+b value is assign to c

Operator Precedence in C

The precedence of operators are used to specify the operators which will be evaluated first and next.

Example:


int  result = 5+5*10-2;

int result = 5+5*10-2;

The precedence and associatively of C operators is given below:

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

Miscellaneous operators in c

There are few other important operators including sizeof and ?: supported by C Language.

Operator	Description
sizeof()	It returns the size of a variable.
&	It returns the address of a variable.
*	It assigns pointer to a variable.
? :	It is a Conditional Expression.

Bitwise operators

Bitwise operator is used to perform bit by bit operations on two variables.

There are following truth table for &, | and ^.

P	q	p & q	p \| q	p ^ q
0	0	0	0	0
0	1	0	1	1
1	1	1	1	0
1	0	0	1	1

Operator	Description
& Binary AND Operator	It copies a bit to the result if it exists in both operands.
\| Binary OR Operator	It copies a bit if it exists in either operand.
^ Binary XOR Operator	It copies the bit if it is set in one operand but not both.
~ Binary Ones Complement Operator	It is unary and has the effect of ‘flipping’ bits.
<< Binary Left Shift Operator	The left operands value is moved left by the number of bits specified by the right operand.
>> Binary Right Shift Operator.	The left operands value is moved right by the number of bits specified by the right operand.

Increment / decrement operator

Increment Operator:

The increment operator is used to increase the value of the variable by one.

Syntax:


Increment operator: ++ var_name; or var_name++;

Increment operator: ++ var_name; or var_name++;

Example:


Increment operator: ++i; i++;

Increment operator: ++i; i++;

Decrement Operator:

Decrement operator is used to decrease the value of the variable by one.

Syntax:


Decrement operator: -- var_name; or var_name--;

Decrement operator: -- var_name; or var_name--;

Example:


Decrement operator: --i;  i--;

Decrement operator: --i; i--;

Difference between Increment & Decrement operators

There are various differences between pre/Post increment & decrement operators in C.

Operator	Operator/Description
Pre increment operator (++i)	The value of i is incremented before assigning it to the variable i.
Post increment operator (i++)	The value of i is incremented after assigning it to the variable i.
Pre decrement operator (- -i)	The value of i is decremented before assigning it to the variable i.
Post decrement operator (i–)	The value of i is decremented after assigning it to variable i.

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