Operators in C Language - Types and Example

Operators in C Language

Operator

An operator is a symbol that is used to operate in a given programming language. The operator specifies an operation to be performed. The operation produces a resultant value. Using operators the constant and variable are combined and expression is obtained. Then expression is solved according to the predefined rule of priority. Operators indicate the compiler to perform a specific type of operation. The operation can be arithmetic, logical, relational, bitwise, etc.

Types of Operator

1.    Arithmetic Operator
2.    Relational Operator
3.     Logical Operator
4.     Bitwise Operator
5.     Assignment Operator
6.     Increment and Decrement Operator
7.     Conditional Operator
8.     Special Operator

Arithmetic Operator

An operator that performs an arithmetic operation such as addition subtraction multiplication etc on operands is called an arithmetic operator. They operate on two operands. Arithmetic operators require numeric values as operands. It gives a numeric value as output. There are five arithmetic operators.

Operator	Used
+	Addition
-	Subtraction
*	Multiplication
/	Division
%	Modulus

 

Relational operator

The operator used to compare or determine the relation between two operands is called a relational operator. The operands can be constant or variable. The comparison is of so many types like whether two operands are equal or which one is greater and which one is smaller. Relational operators are also called binary operators because they operate on two operands. C language has six Relational operators. 

Example

• < Less than
• > Greater than
• <= Less than equal to
• >= Greater than equal to
• == Equality
• != Not equal to

Assignment operator

 Assignment operators are used to assign a value of one variable to another variable. They are also used for assigning the output value of one expression to a variable.

Assignment operators are of two types

1.      Simple assignment operator
2.      Compound assignment operator

 

Simple assignment operator:- For this operator the sign of equal to(=) is used. It is used to assign a value at the right-hand side of the = operator to the variable at the left-hand side of =.

Compound assignment operator:- The compound assignment operator used two operators simultaneously adjacent to each other that’s why they are called compound operators.

Examples of compound operators are

1.      +=

2.      -=

3.      *=

4.      /=

5.      %=

 

Logical Operator

It is used to combine two or more relational operators. It is used in a conditional expression. In C three logical operators are used. They are

Operator	Meaning
&&	AND
“	OR
!	NOT

 

And operator gives a result true when both operands on which the end operator is applied are also true.

Or operator gives result proof when any operation on which all operator is applied gives the result true.

Not operator the not operated by it is used to reverse the value of the expression.

Bitwise Operator

The bitwise operator is the operator used to operate on the data at the bit level. C support 6 bitwise operator. The bitwise operator cannot be used with float and double. They apply to all types of integers.

Operator	Purpose
>>	Right Shift
<<	Left Shift
A	Exclusive OR
-	Tilde
&	AND
“	OR

Increment and Decrement Operator

Increment operators are unary operators used to add 1 to the operand value. The increment operator is denoted by the double plus symbol(++). It has two types Pre increment and Posts increment operators.

The decrement operator is a unary operator which is used to decrease the original value of the operand by 1. The decrement operator is represented by the double minus symbol(--). It has two types Pre decrement and Posts decrement operators.

Conditional Operator

The conditional operator is also known as a ternary operator. The conditional statements are the decision-making statements that depend upon the output of the expression. It is represented by two symbols, i.e., '?' and ':'.

The conditional operator works on three operands, so it is also known as the ternary operator. The behavior of the conditional operator is similar to the ‘if-else’ statement as the 'if-else' statement is also a decision-making statement.

 

Special operator

C also includes some special operators which have specific functionality. They include

1. Comma operator  
2.  & operator
3. * operator
4.   size of the operator

Comma operator: It is used to combine many expressions. The combined expression will be evaluated from left to right. The comma operator is used in for loop.

& operator: It is also called an address operator. It is used to print the address of any memory location.

Size of operator: it is used to measure the size of memory occupied by any variable. The number of bits varies from variable to variable.

* operator: It is also called an indirection operator. It is a pointer operator used to declare a pointer-type variable. The pointer is used to store the address of some variable.

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