OPERATORS IN C++

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An operator is a symbol that tells the compiler to perform specific mathematical or logical
manipulations. C++ 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

This chapter will examine the arithmetic, relational, logical, bitwise, assignment and other
operators one by one.

Arithmetic Operators:
There are following arithmetic operators supported by C++ language:

Assume variable A holds 10 and variable B holds 20, then:

Show Examples

Operator Description Example

+ Adds two operands A + B will give 30

- Subtracts second operand from the first A - B will give -10

* Multiplies both operands A * B will give 200

/ Divides numerator by de-numerator B / A will give 2

% Modulus Operator and remainder of after B % A will give 0

an integer division

++ Increment operator, increases integer A++ will give 11

value by one

-- Decrement operator, decreases integer A-- will give 9

value by one

Relational Operators:
There are following relational operators supported by C++ language

Assume variable A holds 10 and variable B holds 20, then:

Show Examples

Operator Description Example

== Checks if the values of two operands are A == B is not true.

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

> Checks if the value of left operand is A > B is not true.

greater than the value of right operand, if
yes then condition becomes true.

< Checks if the value of left operand is less A < B is true.

than the value of right operand, if yes
then condition becomes true.

>= Checks if the value of left operand is A >= B is not true.

greater than or equal to the value of right
operand, if yes then condition becomes
true.

<= Checks if the value of left operand is less A <= B is true.

than or equal to the value of right
operand, if yes then condition becomes
true.

Logical Operators:
There are following 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 A && B is false.

operands are non-zero, then condition
becomes true.

|| Called Logical OR Operator. If any of the A | | B is true.

two operands is non-zero, then condition
becomes true.

! Called Logical NOT Operator. Use to ! A && B is true.

reverses the logical state of its operand. If
a condition is true, then Logical NOT
operator will make false.

Bitwise Operators:
Bitwise operator works on bits and perform bit-by-bit operation. The truth tables for &, |, and ^ are
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 if A = 60; and B = 13; now 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 Bitwise operators supported by C++ language are listed in the following table. Assume
variable A holds 60 and variable B holds 13, then:

Show Examples

Operator Description Example

& Binary AND Operator copies a bit to the A & B will give 12 which is 0000 1100
result if it exists in both operands.

| Binary OR Operator copies a bit if it exists A | B will give 61 which is 0011 1101
in either operand.

^ Binary XOR Operator copies the bit if it is A B will give 49 which is 0011 0001
set in one operand but not both.

~ Binary Ones Complement Operator is A will give -61 which is 1100 0011 in
unary and has the effect of 'flipping' bits. 2's complement form due to a signed
binary number.

<< Binary Left Shift Operator. The left A << 2 will give 240 which is 1111
operands value is moved left by the 0000
number of bits specified by the right
operand.

>> Binary Right Shift Operator. The left A >> 2 will give 15 which is 0000 1111
operands value is moved right by the
number of bits specified by the right
operand.

Assignment Operators:
There are following assignment operators supported by C++ language:

Show Examples

Operator Description Example

= Simple assignment operator, Assigns C = A + B will assign value of A + B

values from right side operands to left into C
side operand

+= Add AND assignment operator, It adds C += A is equivalent to C = C + A

right operand to the left operand and
assign the result to left operand

-= Subtract AND assignment operator, It C -= A is equivalent to C = C - A

subtracts right operand from the left
 operand and assign the result to left
operand

*= Multiply AND assignment operator, It C *= A is equivalent to C = C * A

multiplies right operand with the left
operand and assign the result to left
operand

/= Divide AND assignment operator, It C /= A is equivalent to C = C / A

divides left operand with the right
operand and assign the result to left
operand

%= Modulus AND assignment operator, It C %= A is equivalent to C = C % A

takes modulus using two operands and
assign the result to left operand

<<= 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 C ^= 2 is same as C = C ^ 2

operator

|= bitwise inclusive OR and assignment C |= 2 is same as C = C | 2

operator

Misc Operators
There are few other operators supported by C++ Language.

Operator Description

sizeof sizeof operator returns the size of a variable. For example, sizeofa,
where a is integer, will return 4.

Condition ? X : Y Conditional operator. If Condition is true ? then it returns value X :

otherwise value Y

, Comma operator causes a sequence of operations to be

performed. The value of the entire comma expression is the value
of the last expression of the comma-separated list.

. dot and -> arrow Member operators are used to reference individual members of
classes, structures, and unions.

Cast Casting operators convert one data type to another. For example,
int2.2000 would return 2.

& Pointer operator & returns the address of an variable. For example
&a; will give actual address of the variable.

* Pointer operator * is pointer to a variable. For example *var; will

pointer to a variable var.

Operators Precedence in C++:

Operator precedence determines the grouping of terms in an expression. This affects how an
expression is evaluated. Certain operators have higher precedence than others; for example, the
multiplication operator has higher precedence than the addition operator:
For example x = 7 + 3 * 2; here, x is assigned 13, not 20 because operator * has higher
precedence than +, so it first gets multiplied with 3*2 and then adds into 7.

Here, operators with the highest precedence appear at the top of the table, those with the lowest
appear at the bottom. Within an expression, higher precedence operators will be evaluated first.

Show Examples

Category Operator Associativity

Postfix [] -> . ++ - - Left to right

Unary + - ! ~ ++ - - type* & sizeof Right to left

Multiplicative */% Left to right

Additive +- Left to right

Shift << >> Left to right

Relational < <= > >= Left to right

Equality == != Left to right

Bitwise AND & Left to right

Bitwise XOR ^ Left to right

Bitwise OR | Left to right

Logical AND && Left to right

Logical OR || Left to right

Conditional ?: Right to left

Assignment = += -= *= /= %=>>= <<= &= ^= |= Right to left

Comma , Left to right

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