Operators in C

Operators in C are used to perform operations. Operators are the symbols that perform the operation on the same values. These values are known as operands. There are the following types of operators to perform different types of operations in C language:

Arithmetic Operators in C
Relational Operators in C
Logical Operators in C
Assignment Operators in C
Bitwise Operators in C
Misc Operators in C

1. Arithmetic Operators in C

Operator	Operator Name	Description	Example
+	Addition	Adds two operands	I = 40, J= 20I + J = 60
–	Subtraction	Subtracts second operand from the first	I = 40, J= 20I – J = 20
*	Multiplication	Multiplies both operands	I = 40, J= 20I * J = 800
/	Divide	Perform division operation	I = 40, J= 20I / J = 2
%	Modulus	Return the remainder after Division	I = 40, J= 20I % J = 0
++	Increment	Increase the operand value by 1	I=40,I++ = 41, ++I = 40 (print 40 but next time its value is 41)
—	Decrement	Decrease the operand value by 1	I=40I– = 39, –I = 40 (print 40 but next time its value is 39)

2. Relational Operators in C

It is also known as comparison operator because it compares the values. After comparison it returns the Boolean value i.e. either true or false.

Operator	Operator Name	Description	Example
==	Equal to	If the values of two operands are equal then it returns true.	I = 20, J =20(I == J) is true
!=	Not Equal to	If the values of two operands are not equal then it returns true.	I = 20, J =20(I == J) is False
<	Less than	If the value of left operand is less than the value of right operand then it returns true	I = 40, J =20(I < J) is False
>	Greater than	If the value of left operand is greater than the value of right operand then it returns true	I = 40, J =20(I > J) is True
<=	Less than or equal to	If the value of left operand is less than or equal to the value of right operand then it returns true.	I = 40, J =20(I <= J) is False
>=	Greater than or equal to	If the value of left operand is greater than or equal to the value of right operand then it returns true.	I = 40, J =20(I >= J) is True

3. Logical Operators in C

Operator	Operator Name	Description	Example
and	Logical AND	When Both side condition is true the result is true otherwise false	2<1 and 2<3False
or	Logical OR	When at least one condition is true then result is true otherwise false	2<1 or 2<3True
not	Logical NOT	Reverse the condition	Not(5>4)False

4. Bitwise Operators in C

Bitwise Operators in C performs the bit-by-bit operations. Suppose there are two variable I = 10 and J = 20 and their binary values are
I = 10 = 0000 1010
J = 20 = 0001 0100

Operator	Operator Name	Description	Example
&	Binary AND	If both bits are 1 then 1 otherwise 0	I & J0000 0000
\|	Binary OR	If one of the bit is 1 then 1 otherwise 0	I \| J0001 1110
^	Binary XOR	If both bit are same then 0 otherwise 1	I ^ J0001 1110
~	Binary Complement	If bit is 1 the make it 0 and if bit is 0 the make it 1	~I1111 0101
<<	Binary Left Shift	The left operand is moved left by the number of bits specified by the right operand.	I << 2 will give 240 i.e. 1111 0000
>>	Binary Right Shift	The left operand is moved right by the number of bits specified by the right operand.	I >> 2 will give 15 i.e. 1111

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5. Assignment Operators in C

Operator	Operator Name	Description	Example
=	Assignment	It assigns value from right side operand to left side operand	I = 40It assigns 40 to I
+=	Add then assign	It performs addition and then result is assigned to left hand operand	I+=Jthat means I = I + J
-=	Subtract then assign	It performs subtraction and then result is assigned to left hand operand	I-=Jthat means I = I – J
*=	Multiply the assign	It performs multiplication and then result is assigned to left hand operand.	I=Jthat means I = I J
/=	Divide then assign	It performs division and then result is assigned to left hand operand	I/=Jthat means I = I / J
%=	Modulus then assign	It performs modulus and then result is assigned to left hand operand	I%=Jthat means I = I % J
<<=	Left shift AND assignment operator	It performs Binary left shift and then result is assigned to left hand operand	I<<=5that means I = I << 5
>>=	Right shift AND assignment operator	It performs Binary right shift and then result is assigned to left hand operand	I>>=5that means I = I >>=5
&=	Bitwise AND assignment operator	It performs bitwise AND and then result is assigned to left hand operand	I &= 5that means I = I & 5
^=	bitwise exclusive OR and assignment operator	It performs bitwise exclusive OR and then result is assigned to left hand operand	I ^= 5that means I = I ^ 5
\|=	bitwise inclusive OR and assignment operator	It performs bitwise inclusive OR and then result is assigned to left hand operand	I \|= 5that means I = I \| 5

6. Misc Operators in C

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

Operator	Description
sizeof()	Returns the size of an variable.
&	Returns the address of an variable.
*	Pointer to a variable.
? :	Conditional Expression

Operators Precedence in C

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