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Operators in C

What are Operators in C​

In C, operators are special symbols that perform specific operations on one, two, or three operands, and then return a result. For example, the addition operator + adds two numbers and the assignment operator = assigns a value to a variable.

C has a rich set of operators, including arithmetic operators, relational operators, logical operators, bitwise operators, and more.

Operator, Operands and Result​

  • Operator: An operator is a symbol that performs a specific operation on one or more operands.

  • Operand: An operand is a value or variable on which the operator performs the operation.

  • Result: The result of the operation is the value that the operator produces after performing the operation on the operands.

For example, in the expression 5 + 10, the operator is +, the operands are 5 and 10, and the result is 15.

Types of operators​

There are several types of operators that can be used in expressions and statements.

These include:

  • Arithmetic operators: These operators perform basic mathematical operations such as addition (+), subtraction (-), multiplication (*), division (/), and modulus (%).

  • Comparison operators: These operators compare two values and return a Boolean value (true or false) based on the comparison. Examples include equal to (==), not equal to (!=), greater than (>), less than (<), greater than or equal to (>=), and less than or equal to (<=).

  • Logical operators: These operators are used to combine multiple comparisons or Boolean values. Examples include and (&&), or (||), and not (!).

  • Assignment operators: These operators are used to assign a value to a variable. The most basic assignment operator is the equal sign (=), but there are also compound assignment operators such as +=, -=, *=, and /=.

  • Ternary operator: The ternary operator is a shorthand for an if-else statement. It takes the form of x ? y : z, where x is a condition, y is the value returned if the condition is true, and z is the value returned if the condition is false.

  • Bitwise operator: These operators work on bits and perform bit-by-bit operation. Some examples include &, |, ^, ~, <<, >>.

  • Special operator: These operators have special meaning and functionality in C. Examples include sizeof, &, *, ->, ., ?:

  • Increment and Decrement operator: These operators are used to increase or decrease the value of a variable by 1. Examples include ++ and --.