Operators and Expressions

Operators - An operator is a symbol that tells the compiler to perform specific mathematical or
logical functions. C language is rich in built-in operators and provides the following types of
operators

 Arithmetic Operators
 Relational Operators
 Logical Operators
 Bitwise Operators
 Assignment Operators
 Misc Operators
The following table shows all the arithmetic operators supported by the C language. Assume
variable A holds 10 and variable B holds 20 then –

Operator Description Example

+ Adds two operands. A + B = 30

− Subtracts second operand from the first. A − B = -10

* Multiplies both operands. A * B = 200

/ Divides numerator by de-numerator. B/A=2

% Modulus Operator and remainder of after an integer division. B%A=0

++ Increment operator increases the integer value by one. A++ = 11

-- Decrement operator decreases the integer value by one. A-- = 9

Relational Operators
The following table shows all the relational operators supported by C. Assume variable A holds
10 and variable B holds 20 then −
Show Examples

Operator Description Example

== Checks if the values of two operands are equal or not. If yes, then (A == B)
the condition becomes true. is not
true.

!= Checks if the values of two operands are equal or not. If the (A != B)

values are not equal, then the condition becomes true. is true.

> Checks if the value of left operand is greater than the value of right (A > B)
operand. If yes, then the condition becomes true. is not
true.

< Checks if the value of left operand is less than the value of right (A < B)
operand. If yes, then the condition becomes true. is true.

>= Checks if the value of left operand is greater than or equal to the (A >= B)
value of right operand. If yes, then the condition becomes true. is not
true.

<= Checks if the value of left operand is less than or equal to the (A <= B)
value of right operand. If yes, then the condition becomes true. is true.

Logical Operators
Following table shows all the logical operators supported by C language. Assume
variable A holds 1 and variable B holds 0, then −
Show Examples

Operator Description Example

&& Called Logical AND operator. If both the operands are non-zero, (A && B)
then the condition becomes true. is false.

|| Called Logical OR Operator. If any of the two operands is non- (A || B) is

zero, then the condition becomes true. true.
! Called Logical NOT Operator. It is used to reverse the logical state !(A &&
of its operand. If a condition is true, then Logical NOT operator will B) is
make it false. true.

Bitwise Operators
Bitwise operator works on bits and perform bit-by-bit operation. The truth tables for &, |, and ^
is as follows −

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

Assume A = 60 and B = 13 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
The following table lists the bitwise operators supported by C. Assume variable 'A' holds 60
and variable 'B' holds 13, then −

Operator Description Example

& Binary AND Operator copies a bit to the result if it exists in both (A & B) =
operands. 12, i.e.,
0000
1100
| Binary OR Operator copies a bit if it exists in either operand. (A | B) =
61, i.e.,
0011
1101

^ Binary XOR Operator copies the bit if it is set in one operand but (A ^ B) =
not both. 49, i.e.,
0011
0001

~ (~A ) =
Binary One's Complement Operator is unary and has the effect of ~(60),
'flipping' bits. i.e,. -
0111101

<< Binary Left Shift Operator. The left operands value is moved left by A << 2 =
the number of bits specified by the right operand. 240 i.e.,
1111
0000

>> Binary Right Shift Operator. The left operands value is moved right A >> 2 =
by the number of bits specified by the right operand. 15 i.e.,
0000
1111

Assignment Operators
The following table lists the assignment operators supported by the C language −

Operator Description Example

= Simple assignment operator. Assigns values from right side C=A+B

operands to left side operand will assign
the value
of A + B
to C

+= Add AND assignment operator. It adds the right operand to the C += A is

left operand and assigns the result to the left operand. equivalent
to C = C +
 A

-= Subtract AND assignment operator. It subtracts the right operand C -= A is

from the left operand and assigns the result to the left operand. equivalent
to C = C -
A

*= Multiply AND assignment operator. It multiplies the right operand C *= A is

with the left operand and assigns the result to the left operand. equivalent
to C = C *
A

/= Divide AND assignment operator. It divides the left operand with C /= A is

the right operand and assigns the result to the left operand. equivalent
to C = C /
A

%= Modulus AND assignment operator. It takes modulus using two C %= A is

operands and assigns the result to the left operand. 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 ↦ sizeof & ternary

Besides the operators discussed above, there are a few other important operators
including sizeof and ? : supported by the C Language.

Operator Description Example

sizeof() sizeof(a), where a is integer, will return

Returns the size of a variable.
4.

& &a; returns the actual address of the

Returns the address of a variable.
variable.

* Pointer to a variable. *a;

?: If Condition is true ? then value X :

Conditional Expression.
otherwise value Y