Operators in C Language

Operators in any computer language are the symbols that perform a specific task in the program and based on the number of operands they are classified into the following categories.
The C language consists of three types of operators – Unary, Binary, and Ternary operators.

Unary Operator

This type of operator required one operand or one argument.
A unary operator is further divided into sub-parts

  • Unary Minus

    This operator changes the sign of the argument provided to the operator. The negative argument changes to positive and the positive argument changes to negative.

    Example
    Int a = 25;
    Int b = -a;
    Value of b equal to b = -25

  • Increment Operator

    This operator is used to increase the value of the argument by one. Increment operators are of two types

    1. Prefix Increment

      In this type of increment, the operator is followed by the argument i.e. ++a, and the value of the argument is changed before it is used.
      Example
      Int a = 15; ---> this point value of a is 15
      int b = ++a --> this point value of b is 16

    2. Postfix Increment

      In this type of increment, the argument is followed by the operator i.e. a++, and the value of the operator changes after it is used.

      Example
      Int a = 15; ---> this point value of a is 15
      int b = a++; --> this point value of b is 15
      int c=a; --> this point value of c is 16
  • Decrement Operator

    This operator is used to decrease the value of the argument. Decrement operator is of two types

    1. Prefix decrement

      In this type of decrement, the operator is followed by the argument i.e. --a, and the value of the argument is changed before it is used.
      Example
      Int a = 15; --> this point value of a is 15
      int b = --a; --> this point value of b is 14

    2. Postfix decrement

      In this type of decrement, the argument is followed by the operator i.e. a--, and the value of the operator changes after it is used.
      Example
      Int a = 15;  --> this point value of a is 15
      int b = a--;  --> this point value of b is 15
      int c=a;      --> this point value of c is 14

 

Binary Operator

Binary operator requires two operands.
Binary operators are further divided into the subcategory

  • Binary Arithmetic Operator

    These are the operators used to perform mathematical operations using two operands and provide the results.

    1. Addition

      This operator adds two numbers and the syntax for this operator is ‘+’.
      Example
      Int a = 15;
      int b = 10; 
      int c=a+b; --> value of c would be 25

    2. Subtraction

      This operator subtracts the second operand from the first operand and the syntax for this operator is ‘-‘.
      Example
      Int a = 15;
      int b = 10; 
      int c=a-b; --> value of c would be 5

    3. Multiplication

      This operator multiplies the second operand from the first operand and the syntax for this operator is ‘*’.
      Example
      Int a = 15;
      int b = 10; 
      int c=a*b; --> value of c would be 150

    4. Division

      This operator divides the first operand from the second operand and the syntax for this operator is ‘/’.
      Example
      Int a = 15;
      int b = 10; 
      int c=a/b; --> value of c would be 1

    5. Remainder or Modulo

      This operator gives us the remainder when the first operand is divided by the second operand and the syntax for this operator is ‘%’.
      Example
      Int a = 15;
      int b = 10; 
      int c=a%b; --> value of c would be 5

Ternary Operator

For the execution of the ternary operator, the result of the binary condition is used. The binary condition act as the input which is then used as an if-else statement.
Syntax of ternart operator
binaryCondition ? valueReturnedIfTrue : valuReturnedIfFalse;
Example-


int findminimum(int a, int b){
Return (a<b) ? a : b; // If a < b it returns a and if a>b it return b
} 

 

Assignment Operator

This type of operator is used to assign the value to the variables. The assignment operator accepts a variable as the left operand and a value as the right operand.
"+=": The "+=" operator combines the "+" and "=" operators. This operator assigns the result to the variable on the left after adding the current value of the variable on the left to the value on the right.