C - Types of Operators with Example

Gaurav Dixit (Software Engineer)

C Operators

C operators are symbols that are used to perform mathematical or logical manipulations. The C programming language is rich with built-in operators. Operators take part in a program for manipulating data and variables and form a part of the mathematical or logical expressions.

Types of Operators in C

C programming language offers various types of operators having different functioning capabilities.
  • Arithmetic Operators
  • Relational Operators
  • Logical Operators
  • Assignment Operators
  • Increment and Decrement Operators
  • Conditional Operator
  • Bitwise Operators
  • Special Operators

Arithmetic Operators

Arithmetic Operators are used to performing mathematical calculations like addition (+), subtraction (-), multiplication (*), division (/) and modulus (%).

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

Example: C Program to Add Two Numbers

#include<stdio.h> void main() {  int i=3,j=7,k; /* Variables Defining and Assign values */ k=i+j;  printf("sum of two numbers is %d\n", k);  }

Output:

sum of two numbers is 10

Increment and Decrement Operators

Increment and Decrement Operators are useful operators generally used to minimize the calculation, i.e. ++x and x++ means x=x+1 or -x and x−−means x=x-1. But there is a slight difference between ++ or −− written before or after the operand. Applying the pre-increment first add one to the operand and then the result is assigned to the variable on the left whereas post-increment first assigns the value to the variable on the left and then increment the operand.

Operator Description
++ Increment
-- Decrement

Example:To Demonstrate Prefix and Postfix Modes

#include<stdio.h> //stdio.h is a header file used for input.output purpose. void main() {     //set a and b both equal to 5.    int a=5, b=5;          //Print them and decrementing each time.    //Use postfix mode for a and prefix mode for b.    printf("\n%d %d",a--,--b);     printf("\n%d %d",a--,--b);     printf("\n%d %d",a--,--b);     printf("\n%d %d",a--,--b);     printf("\n%d %d",a--,--b); }

Output:

5 4
4 3
3 2
2 1
1 0

Relational Operators

Relational operators are used to comparing two quantities or values.

Operator Description
== Is equal to
!= Is not equal to
> Greater than
< Less than
>= Greater than or equal to
<= Less than or equal to

Logical Operators

C provides three logical operators when we test more than one condition to make decisions. These are: && (meaning logical AND), || (meaning logical OR) and ! (meaning logical NOT).

Operator Description
&& And operator. It performs logical conjunction of two expressions. (if both expressions evaluate to True, result is True. If either expression evaluates to False, the result is False)
|| Or operator. It performs a logical disjunction on two expressions. (if either or both expressions evaluate to True, the result is True)
! Not operator. It performs logical negation on an expression.

Bitwise Operators

C provides a special operator for bit operation between two variables.

Operator Description
<< Binary Left Shift Operator
>> Binary Right Shift Operator
~ Binary Ones Complement Operator
& Binary AND Operator
^ Binary XOR Operator
| Binary OR Operator

Assignment Operators

Assignment operators applied to assign the result of an expression to a variable. C has a collection of shorthand assignment operators.

Operator Description
= Assign
+= Increments then assign
-= Decrements then assign
*= Multiplies then assign
/= Divides then assign
%= Modulus then assign
<<= Left shift and assign
>>= Right shift and assign
&= Bitwise AND assign
^= Bitwise exclusive OR and assign
|= Bitwise inclusive OR and assign

Conditional Operators

C offers a ternary operator which is the conditional operator (?: in combination) to construct conditional expressions.

Operator Description
? :  Conditional Expression

Special Operators

C supports some special operators

Operator Description
sizeof()  Returns the size of a memory location.
&  Returns the address of a memory location.
*  Pointer to a variable.

Example: Program to demonstrate the use of sizeof operator

#include<stdio.h>
void main()
{
      int i=10; /* Variables Defining and Assign values */      
      printf("integer: %d\n", sizeof(i));
}

Output:

integer: 4

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