Operators in C Language

In this tutorial, we will be covering the Operators in C Language

C language supports a rich set of built-in operators. An operator is a symbol or a letter that is used to indicate a specific operation on the variables in a program. An Operator is mainly used to tell the compiler to perform a specific mathematical or logical manipulation. They are mainly used in the programs in order to manipulate data and variables.

There are various types of C operators which are as follows:

Operators in C

Arithmetic Operators

C supports all the basic arithmetic operators. Given below are the basic arithmetic operators available in C:

Arithmetic Operator	Purpose
+	Addition
-	Subtraction or Unary Minus
*	Multiplication
/	Division
%	Remainder after Division

The unary minus (-) operator multiplies its single operand by -1. Hence, a number preceded by a minus sign changes its sign. When both the operands are integers (or real), the result produces an integer value (or real value). If one operand is of the real type, and another is an integer type, then the result is always a real number. It is important to note that the division operator % cannot be used on floating-point data.

Example


#include<stdio.h>  
int main()
{    
    int f;
    float c;
    printf("\nEnter the temperature in Fahrenheit:");
    scanf("%d",&f);
    c=5.0/9.0*(f-32.0);
    printf("Equivalent celsius temperature is:%f",c);
}

Enter the temperature in Fahrenheit:35
Equivalent celsius temperature is:1.666667

The operator % operates as follows:

Operand1	Operator	Operand2	Result
-9	%	2	1
-9	%	2	-1
-9	%	(-2)	1
-9	%	(-2)	-1

Hence the sign of the result is always the sign of the first operand.

Relational Operators

The relational operator is used to contrast two operands to see whether they are similar to each other, unequal, or one is greater or lesser than the other.

While the operand can be variables, constants, or expressions, the result is always a numeric value equivalent to true or false.

C language provides six relational operators.

Operator	Description
==	Check if two operands are equal
!=	Check if two operands are not equal.
>	Check if the operand on the left is greater than the operand on the right
<	Check operand on the left is smaller than the right operand
>=	Check left operand is greater than or equal to the right operand
<=	Check if the operand on the left is smaller than or equal to the right operand

Example

#include <stdio.h>
int main()
{
    int a = 10, b = 10, c = 20;

    printf("%d == %d is %d \n", a, b, a == b);
    printf("%d == %d is %d \n", a, c, a == c);
    printf("%d > %d is %d \n", a, b, a > b);
    printf("%d > %d is %d \n", a, c, a > c);
    printf("%d < %d is %d \n", a, b, a < b);
    printf("%d < %d is %d \n", a, c, a < c);
    printf("%d != %d is %d \n", a, b, a != b);
    printf("%d != %d is %d \n", a, c, a != c);
    printf("%d >= %d is %d \n", a, b, a >= b);
    printf("%d >= %d is %d \n", a, c, a >= c);
    printf("%d <= %d is %d \n", a, b, a <= b);
    printf("%d <= %d is %d \n", a, c, a <= c);

    return 0;
}

10 == 10 is 1
10 == 20 is 0
10 > 10 is 0
10 > 20 is 0
10 < 10 is 0
10 < 20 is 1
10 != 10 is 0
10 != 20 is 1
10 >= 10 is 1
10 >= 20 is 0
10 <= 10 is 1
10 <= 20 is 1

A simple relation consists of only one relational expression and takes the following form:

<ae-1><relational operator><ae-2>

<ae-1> and <ae-2> are arithmetic expression, which can be constants, variables, or mixtures of these. The value of the relational operator is 1 or 0. If the relation is true, the result is 1; otherwise, it is 0.

Example

Expressions	Result
6.3<=15	True
2.5<-2	False
-10>=0	False
10<8+3	True

Logical Operators

Logical operators are used to merging two or more relational expressions. C supports three logical operators. A compound relation acts identically producing either true or false value.

Operators	Description	Result
&&	Logical AND	True if both the operands are true
\|\|	Logical or	True if both the operands are true
!	Logical not	True if the operand is false and vice versa.

Example

(age>50 && weight <80) will evaluate to true if age is more than 50 and also weight is less than 80. Otherwise, it will evaluate as false.
(a < 0 ¦ ch = = ‘a’) will evaluate to true if a is less than 0 while ch is equal to ‘a’, false otherwise.
(!(a < 0)) will evaluate to true if a is greater than or equal to 0, false otherwise.

Example

#include <stdio.h>
int main()
{
    int a = 10, b = 10, c = 20, result;

    result = (a == b) && (c > b);
    printf("(a == b) && (c > b) is %d \n", result);

    result = (a == b) && (c < b);
    printf("(a == b) && (c < b) is %d \n", result);

    result = (a == b) || (c < b);
    printf("(a == b) || (c < b) is %d \n", result);

    result = (a != b) || (c < b);
    printf("(a != b) || (c < b) is %d \n", result);

    result = !(a != b);
    printf("!(a != b) is %d \n", result);

    result = !(a == b);
    printf("!(a == b) is %d \n", result);

    return 0;
}

(a == b) && (c > b) is 1
(a == b) && (c < b) is 0
(a == b) || (c < b) is 1
(a != b) || (c < b) is 0
!(a != b) is 1
!(a == b) is 0

Bitwise Operators

Bitwise operators are used for manipulating the data at the bit level. These operators can be testing the bits or shifting them right or left. Bitwise operators apply to integer data types only.

A list of different bitwise operators available in C language and their corresponding meaning is presented below:

Operator	Description
&	Bitwise AND
\|	Bitwise OR
^	Bitwise XOR
<<	Left Shift
>>	Right Shift

| (Bit-wise OR): Binary operator takes two operands of int type and performs bit-wise OR operation. With assumption that int size is 8-bits: