DET 116 : BASIC

COMPUTER PROGRAMMING
Chapter 4: Basic C Operators
Objectives
 In this chapter, you will learn about:
 Arithmetic operators
 Unary operators
 Binary operators

 Assignment operators
 Equalities and relational operators
 Logical operators
 Conditional operator

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Arithmetic Operators I
 In C, we have the following operators
(note that all these example are using 9
as the value of its first operand)
Operatio Operator Operand Value
n After
Addition + 2 11
Subtractio - 2 7
n
Multiplicat * 2 18
ion
Division / 3 3
Increment ++ + 10
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Decremen -- - 8
Arithmetic Operators II
 There are 2 types of arithmetic
operators in C:
 unary operators
 operators that require only one operand.
 binary operators.
 operators that require two operands.

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Unary Operator
C Operator Example
Operation
Positive + a=+3
Negative - b=-a
Increment ++ i++
Decrement -- i--
 The first assigns positive 3 to a
 The second assigns the negative value of a to b.
 i++ is equivalent to i = i + 1
 i-- is equivalent to i = i-1
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PRE- / POST-Increment
 It is also possible to use ++i and --i instead of i++
and i--
 However, the two forms have a slightly yet important
difference.
 Consider this example:
int a = 9;
printf(“%d\n”, a++);
printf(“%d”, a);
 The output would be:
9
10

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PRE- / POST-Increment
cont…
 But if we have:
int a = 9;
printf(“%d\n”, ++a);
printf(“%d”, a);
 The output would be:
10
10
 a++ would return the current value of a and then
increment the value of a
 ++a on the other hand increment the value of a
before returning the value
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The following table illustrates the difference between the prefix and
postfix modes of the increment and decrement operator.

int R = 10,
count=10;
++ Or -- Equivalent R value Count
Statement Statements value
R = count++; R = count;
10 11
count = count + 1
R = ++count; count = count + 1;
11 11
R = count;
R = count --; R = count;
10 9
count = count – 1;
R = --count; Count = count – 1;
9 9
R = count;

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Binary Operators
C Operation Operator Example
Addition + a+3
Subtraction - a-6
Multiplication * a*b
Division / a/c
Modulus % a%x

 The division of variables of type int will always

produce a variable of type int as the result.
 You could only use modulus (%) operation on
int variables.

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Assignment Operators
 Assignment operators are used to combine
the '=' operator with one of the binary
arithmetic operators
 In the following slide, All operations
starting fromExample
Operator c = Equivalent
9 Results
Statement
+= c += 7 c=c+ c = 16
7
-= c -= 8 c = c – 8 c=1
*= c *= c=c* c = 90
10 10
/= c /= 5 c = c / 5 c=1
%= cprepared
%= by5NI, edited
c =bycMAF
% c=4
Precedence Rules
 Precedence rules come into play when there is a mixed of
arithmetic operators in one statement. For example: x = 3 * a -
++b%3;
 The rules specify which of the operators will be evaluated first.

Precedence Operator Associativity

Level
1 (highest) () Left to right
2 Unary Right to left
3 */% Left to right
4 +- Left to right
6 (lowest) = += -= *= /= Right to left
%=
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Precedence Rules cont…
 For example: x = 3 * a - ++b % 3;
how would this statement be evaluated?

 If we intend to have the statement evaluated

differently from the way specified by the precedence
rules, we need to specify it using parentheses ( )
 Using parenthesis, we will have
x = 3 * ((a - ++b)%3);
 The expression inside a parentheses will be
evaluated first.
 The inner parentheses will be evaluated earlier
compared to the outer parentheses.

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Equality and Relational
Operators
 Equality Operators:
Operator Example Meaning
== x==y x is equal to y
!= x!=y x is not equal to y

 Relational Operators:
Operator Example Meaning
> 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
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Logical Operators
 Logical operators are useful when we want to test
multiple conditions.
 There are 3 types of logical operators and they
work the same way as the boolean AND, OR and
NOT operators.
 && - Logical AND
 All the conditions must be true for the whole
expression to be true.
 Example: if (a == 10 && b == 9 && d == 1)

means the if statement is only true when a ==

10 and
b == 9 and d == 1.
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Logical Operators cont…
 || - Logical OR
 The truth of one condition is enough to make
the whole expression true.
 Example: if (a == 10 || b == 9 || d == 1)
means the if statement is true when either
one of a, b or d has the right value.
 ! - Logical NOT (also called logical
negation)
 Reverse the meaning of a condition
 Example: if (!(points > 90))
means if points not bigger than 90.
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Conditional Operator
 The conditional operator (?:) is used to
simplify an if/else statement.
 Syntax:

Condition ? Expression1 : Expression2

 The statement above is equivalent to:
if (Condition)
Expression1
else
Expression2
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Conditional Operator cont…
 Example 1:
if/else statement:
if (total > 60)
grade = ‘P’
else
grade = ‘F’;

conditional statement:
total > 60 ? grade = ‘P’: grade = ‘F’;
OR
grade = total > 60 ? ‘P’: ‘F’;
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Conditional Operator cont…
 Example 2:
if/else statement:

if (total > 60)

printf(“Passed!!\n”);
else
printf(“Failed!!\n”);

Conditional Statement:

printf(“%s!!\n”, total > 60? “Passed”: “Failed”);

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SUMMARY
 This chapter exposed you the operators
used in C
 Arithmetic operators
 Assignment operators
 Equalities and relational operators
 Logical operators
 Conditional operator
 Precedence levels come into play when
there is a mixed of arithmetic operators in
one statement.
 Pre/post fix - effects the result of statement
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