Java provides a rich set of operators to manipulate variables.

We can divide all the Java operators

into the following groups:

 Arithmetic Operators

 Relational Operators

 Bitwise Operators

 Logical Operators

 Assignment Operators

 Misc Operators

The Arithmetic Operators:

Arithmetic operators are used in mathematical expressions in the same way that they are used in
algebra. The following table lists the arithmetic operators:

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

Show Examples
Operator Description Example

+ Addition - Adds values on either side of the operator A + B will give 30

Subtraction - Subtracts right hand operand from left hand

- A - B will give -10
operand

Multiplication - Multiplies values on either side of the

* A * B will give 200
operator

/ Division - Divides left hand operand by right hand operand B / A will give 2

Modulus - Divides left hand operand by right hand operand

% B % A will give 0
and returns remainder

B++ gives 21
++ Increment - Increases the value of operand by 1
++B 20, 21

B-- gives 19
-- Decrement - Decreases the value of operand by 1
--B
The Relational Operators:

There are following relational operators supported by Java language

Assume variable A holds 10 and variable B holds 20, then: true or false

Show Examples
Operator Description Example

Checks if the values of two operands are equal or not, if yes

== (A == B) is not true.
then condition becomes true.

Checks if the values of two operands are equal or not, if

!= (A != B) is true.
values are not equal then condition becomes true.

Checks if the value of left operand is greater than the value

> (A > B) is not true.
of right operand, if yes then condition becomes true.

Checks if the value of left operand is less than the value of

< (A < B) is true.
right operand, if yes then condition becomes true.

Checks if the value of left operand is greater than or equal

>= to the value of right operand, if yes then condition becomes (A >= B) is not true.
true.

Checks if the value of left operand is less than or equal to

<= the value of right operand, if yes then condition becomes (A <= B) is true.
true.

The Bitwise Operators:

Java defines several bitwise operators, which can be applied to the integer types, long, int, short,
char, and byte.

Bitwise operator works on bits and performs bit-by-bit operation. Assume if a = 60; and b = 13; now
in binary format they will be as follows:

A = 3 , 011

B= 4, 100

000-

A&B 000
a = 0011 1100

b = 0000 1101

-----------------

a&b = 0000 1100

a|b = 0011 1101

a^b = 0011 0001

~a = 1100 0011

The following table lists the bitwise operators:

Assume integer variable A holds 60 and variable B holds 13 then:

Show Examples
Operator Description Example

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

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

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

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

The Logical Operators:

The following table lists the logical operators:

Assume Boolean variables A holds true and variable B holds false, then:

Show Examples
Operator Description Example

Called Logical AND operator. If both the operands are non-

&& (A && B) is false.
zero, then the condition becomes true.

Called Logical OR Operator. If any of the two operands are

|| (A || B) is true.
non-zero, then the condition becomes true.

Called Logical NOT Operator. Use to reverses the logical state

! of its operand. If a condition is true then Logical NOT operator !(A && B) is true.
will make false.

The Assignment Operators:

There are following assignment operators supported by Java language:

Show Examples
Operator Description Example

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

values from right side operands to left
 side operand

Add AND assignment operator, It adds

+= right operand to the left operand and C += A is equivalent to C = C + A
assign the result to left operand

Subtract AND assignment operator, It

subtracts right operand from the left
-= C -= A is equivalent to C = C – A
operand and assign the result to left
operand

Multiply AND assignment operator, It

multiplies right operand with the left
*= C *= A is equivalent to C = C * A
operand and assign the result to left
operand

Divide AND assignment operator, It

divides left operand with the right
/= C /= A is equivalent to C = C / A
operand and assign the result to left
operand

Modulus AND assignment operator, It

%= takes modulus using two operands and C %= A is equivalent to C = C % A
assign the result to left operand

&= 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 Java Language.

Conditional Operator ( ? : ):

Conditional operator is also known as the ternary operator. This operator consists of three operands
and is used to evaluate Boolean expressions. The goal of the operator is to decide which value
should be assigned to the variable. The operator is written as:
variable x = (expression) ? value if true : value if false

Following is the example:

public class Test {

public static void main(String args[]){

int a , b;
a = 10;
b = (a == 1) ? 20: 30;
System.out.println( "Value of b is : " + b );

b = (a == 10) ? 20: 30;

System.out.println( "Value of b is : " + b );
}
}

This would produce the following result:

Value of b is : 30
Value of b is : 20

instanceof Operator:

This operator is used only for object reference variables. The operator checks whether the object is
of a particular type(class type or interface type). instanceof operator is wriiten as:

( Object reference variable ) instanceof (class/interface type)

If the object referred by the variable on the left side of the operator passes the IS-A check for the
class/interface type on the right side, then the result will be true. Following is the example:

public class Test {

public static void main(String args[]){

String name = "James";
// following will return true since name is type of String
boolean result = name instanceof String;
System.out.println( result );
}
}

This would produce the following result: true