Today
we are going to learn about operators. I will teach you guys the theory related
to operators as well as showing you the code as examples. So we will be using
VS Code to write a few lines of code for a better understanding of the topic.
Let’s start with the definition:
“Special
symbols that are used to perform actions or operations are known as operators.”
For example, the symbol plus (+) is used to perform addition so it is an operator.
We
will discuss all sorts of operators here. Let’s start with the simpler ones’
i.e. Arithmetic.
Arithmetic
operators:
Arithmetic
operators are used to performing mathematical operations such as addition,
subtraction etc. A few of the simple arithmetic operators are :
|
Operator
|
Description
|
|
+
|
Addition
|
|
−
|
Subtraction
|
|
*
|
Multiplication
|
|
/
|
Division
|
|
%
|
Modulus
|
We
all know their purpose and how they are used in simple mathematics. Their
purpose and functionality are the same, let’s see their implementation in C.
int a = 2;
int b = 3;
printf("a + b = %d\n", a+b);
The
output will be:
a + b = 5
Relational Operators:
Relational
operators are used for the comparison between two or more numbers. Same as
Java, C also has six relational operators and their return value is in Boolean
i.e. either True or False (1 or 0).
|
Operator
|
Description
|
|
>
|
Greater than
|
|
<
|
Less than
|
|
>=
|
Greater than or equal to
|
|
<=
|
Less than or equal to
|
|
==
|
Is equal to
|
|
!=
|
Is not equal to
|
Let’s
go to VS Code now:
int a = 2;
int b = 2;
printf("a == b = %d\n", a==b);
The output is 1 i.e. True.
If
we change the value of a or b the value will be false or 0.
int a = 1;
int b = 2;
printf("a == b = %d\n", a==b);
The output is 0 i.e. False.
Logical Operators:
There
are three logical operators i.e. AND, OR, and NOT. They can be used to compare
Boolean values but are mostly used to compare conditions to see whether they
are satisfying or not.
AND: it returns true
when both operators are true or 1.
OR: it returns true
when either operator is true or 1.
Not: it is used to reverse the logical state of
the operand.
|
Symbol
|
Operator
|
|
&&
|
AND operator
|
|
||
|
OR Operator
|
|
!
|
NOT Operator
|
Example:
int a = 1;
int b = 0;
printf("a or b = %d\n", a||b);
Here
the output is:
a or b = 1
Let’s
see what happens if both the values are zero
int a = 0;
int b = 0;
printf("a or b = %d\n", a||b);
the
output is:
a or b = 0
Bitwise Operators:
To
perform bit level operations, bitwise operators are used. They convert the
values we provide to them in binary format and then compare them to provide us
the results.
|
Symbols
|
Operators
|
|
&
|
Bitwise AND
|
|
|
|
Bitwise OR
|
|
^
|
Bitwise XOR
|
|
~
|
Bitwise complement
|
|
<<
|
Shift left
|
|
>>
|
Shift right
|
Assignment Operators:
Assignment
operators are used to assigning values. They are going to be used in each and
every one of our programs.
int a = 0;
int b = 1;
Equal
to (=) is the assignment operator here, assigning 0 to a and to b.
|
Operator
|
Description
|
|
=
|
Assigns values from right side operands to the left side
operand
|
|
+=
|
It adds the right operand to the left operand and assigns
the result to the left operand.
|
|
-=
|
It subtracts the right operand from the left operand and
assigns the result to the left operand.
|
|
*=
|
It multiplies the right operand with the left operand and
assigns the result to the left operand.
|
|
/=
|
It divides the left operand with the right operand and assigns the result to the left operand.
|
Conclusion:
These
are a few of the important operators that you should know about before starting
actual programming. There are also many other operators such as &, % or
*(pointer). I will let you know their details when working with them but the
few defined above will be used frequently so knowledge about them is important.
You do not have to remember them all as you can open the Tutorial any time
again when required.
#include
int main()
{
/* code */
int a, b;
a = 2;
b = 3;
printf("a & b = %d\n", a&b);
printf("a - b = %d\n", a-b);
printf("a * b = %d\n", a*b);
printf("a / b = %d\n", a/b);
return 0;
}
