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Rajarata University of Sri Lanka

Department of Computing

ICT1402
PRINCIPLES OF PROGRAM DESIGN &
PROGRAMMING
Lecture 08
C Operators

K.A.S.H. Kulathilake
Ph.D., M. Phil., MCS, B.Sc. (Hons) IT, SEDA(UK)
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Objectives
• At the end of this lecture students should be able
to;
▫ Define the terms operators, operands, operator
precedence and associativity.
▫ Describe operators in C programming language.
▫ Practice the effect of different operators in C
programming language.
▫ Justify evaluation of expressions in programming.
▫ Apply taught concepts for writing programs.
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Operators and Operands

• Operands
▫ Operands are numerical, text and Boolean values
that a program can manipulate and use as logical
guidelines for making decisions.
▫ Like with math, computer programs can use
constant values and variables as operands.
▫ If you have the variable "dozens" with the value of
“2" and the constant "12" in the equation
"dozens*12 = 24."
▫ Both "dozens" and "12" are operands in the
equation.
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Operators and Operands (Cont…)

• Operators
▫ Operators are used to manipulate and check
operand values.
▫ In C programming Operators are symbols which
take one or more operands or expressions and
perform arithmetic or logical computations.
▫ If the operator manipulates one operand it is
known as unary operator; if the operator
manipulates two operands, it is known as binary
operator and if the operator manipulates three
operands, it is known as ternary operator.
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Operators and Operands (Cont…)

• C has following operators
▫ Arithmetic operators  all are binary operators
▫ Logical operators  all are binary operators
▫ Relational operators  all are binary operators
▫ Bitwise operators  all are binary operators except !
and ~
▫ Increment, decrement operators  unary operators
▫ Assignment operators  binary operators
▫ Conditional operator  ternary operator
▫ Type cast operator unary operator
▫ sizeof operator  unary operator
▫ Comma operator  binary operator
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Arithmetic Operators
Operator Description
A+B adds A with B;
A-B subtracts B from A;
A*B multiplies A by B;
A/B divides A by B;
I%J gives the remainder of I divided by J.
Here I and J are expressions of any integer data type;

Here A and B are expressions of any basic data type

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Arithmetic Operators (Cont…)

#include <stdio.h>
int main (void)
{
int a = 100;
int b = 2;
int c = 25;
int d = 4;
int result;
result = a - b;
printf ("a - b = %i\n", result);
result = b * c;
printf ("b * c = %i\n", result);
result = a / c;
printf ("a / c = %i\n", result);
result = a + b * c;
printf ("a + b * c = %i\n", result);
printf ("a * b + c * d = %i\n", a * b + c * d);
return 0;
}
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Arithmetic Operators (Cont…)

#include <stdio.h>
int main (void)
{
int a = 25;
int b = 2;
float c = 25.0;
float d = 2.0;
printf ("6 + a / 5 * b = %i\n", 6 + a / 5 * b);
printf ("a / b * b = %i\n", a / b * b);
printf ("c / d * d = %f\n", c / d * d);
printf ("-a = %i\n", -a);
return 0;
}
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Arithmetic Operators (Cont…)

#include <stdio.h>
int main (void)
{
int a = 25, b = 5, c = 10, d = 7;
printf ("a %% b = %i\n", a % b);
printf ("a %% c = %i\n", a % c);
printf ("a %% d = %i\n", a % d);
printf ("a / d * d + a %% d = %i\n",
a / d * d + a % d);
return 0;
}
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Logical Operators
Operator Description
•A
A && B has the value 1 if both A and B are nonzero, and 0
otherwise (and B is evaluated only if A is nonzero);
A || B has the value 1 if either A or B is nonzero, and 0
otherwise (and B is evaluated only if A is zero);
!A has the value 1 if a is zero, and 0 otherwise.

A and B are expressions of any basic data type except void,

or are both pointers;
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Logical Operators (Cont…)

#include <stdio.h>

int main()
{
int a = 5;
int b = 20;
int c = 1;

printf( "( a && b ) = %d \n", a && b );

printf( "( a || b ) = %d \n", a || b );
printf( " !a = %d \n", !a );
return 0;
}
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Relational Operators
Operator Description
A<B has the value 1 if A is less than B, and 0 otherwise;
A <= B has the value 1 if A is less than or equal to B, and 0
otherwise;
A>B has the value 1 if A is greater than B, and 0 otherwise;
A >= B has the value 1 if A is greater than or equal to B, and 0
otherwise;
A == B has the value 1 if A is equal to B, and 0 otherwise;
A != B has the value 1 if A is not equal to B, and 0 otherwise;

A and B are expressions of any basic data type except void,

or are both pointers;
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Relational Operators (Cont…)

• The usual arithmetic conversions are performed
on A and B.
• The first four relational tests are only
meaningful for pointers if they both point into
the same array or to members of the same
structure or union.
• The type of the result in each case is int.
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Relational Operators (Cont…)

#include <stdio.h>

int main()
{
int a = 5;
int b = 20;
int c = 5;

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 );
printf( "( c == a ) = %d \n", c == a );
printf( "( a != b ) = %d \n", a != b );
return 0;
}
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Bitwise Operators
Operator Description
A&B performs a bitwise AND of A and B;
A|B performs a bitwise OR of A and B;
A^B performs a bitwise XOR of A and B;
~A takes the bitwise complement of A;
A << n shifts A to the left n bits;
A >> n shifts A to the right n bits;

A, B, n are expressions of any integer data type;

Bitwise complement of any number N is -(N+1).
bitwise complement of N = ~N (represented in 2's complement form)
2'complement of ~N= -(~(~N)+1) = -(N+1)
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Bitwise Operators (Cont…)

• Bitwise operator works on bits and perform bit-
by-bit operation.
• The truth tables for &, |, and ^ is 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
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Bitwise Operators (Cont…)

• The usual arithmetic conversions are performed
on the operands, except with << and >>, in
which case just integral promotion is performed
on each operand.
• If the shift count is negative or is greater than or
equal to the number of bits contained in the
object being shifted, the result of the shift is
undefined.
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Bitwise Operators (Cont…)

• Left shift
▫ 212 = 11010100 (In binary)
▫ 212<<1 = 110101000 (In binary) [Left shift by one bit]
▫ 212<<0 =11010100 (Shift by 0)
▫ 212<<4 = 110101000000 (In binary) =3392(In decimal)
• Right shift
▫ 212 = 11010100 (In binary)
▫ 212>>2 = 00110101 (In binary) [Right shift by two bits]
▫ 212>>7 = 00000001 (In binary)
▫ 212>>8 = 00000000
▫ 212>>0 = 11010100 (No Shift)
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Bitwise Operators (Cont…)

• Assume A = 60 and B = 13 in binary format, they
will be as follows:
A = 0011 1100
B = 00001101

A&B = 0000 1100

A|B = 0011 1101
A^B = 0011 0001
~A = 1100 0011
A << 2 = 240 i.e., 1111 0000
A >> 2 = 15 i.e., 0000 1111
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Bitwise Operators (Cont…)

#include <stdio.h>

int main()
{
int a = 60;
int b = 13;

printf( "( a & b ) = %d \n", a & b );

printf( "( a | b ) = %d \n", a | b );
printf( "( a ^ b ) = %d \n", a ^ b );
printf( "( ~ a ) = %d \n", ~a );
printf( "( a << 2 ) = %d \n", a << 2);
printf( "( a >> 2 ) = %d \n", a >> 2);
return 0;

}
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Increment and Decrement Operators

Operator Description
++A increments A and then uses its value as the value of the
expression;
A++ uses A as the value of the expression and then
increments A;
--A decrements A and then uses its value as the value of the
expression;
A-- uses A as the value of the expression and then
decrements A;

A is a modifiable value expression, whose type is not

qualified as const.
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Increment and Decrement Operators

(Cont…)
#include <stdio.h>

int main() {
int a = 21;
int c =10;;

c = a++;
printf( "Line 1 - Value of a and c are : %d - %d\n", a, c);
c = ++a;
printf( "Line 2 - Value of a and c are : %d - %d\n", a, c);
c = a--;
printf( "Line 3 - Value of a and c are : %d - %d\n", a, c);
c = --a;
printf( "Line 4 - Value of a and c are : %d - %d\n", a, c);
return 0;
}
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Assignment Operators
• A = B  stores the value of B into A;
• A op= B applies op to A and B, storing the
result in A.

A is a modifiable value expression, whose type is not

qualified as const;
op is any operator that can be used as an assignment
operator ; B is an expression;
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Assignment Operators (Cont…)

• In the first expression, if B is one of the basic
data types (except void), it is converted to match
the type of A.
• If A is a pointer, B must be a pointer to the same
type as A, a void pointer, or the null pointer.
• If A is a void pointer, B can be of any pointer
type.
• The second expression is treated as follows;
A = A op (B)
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Assignment Operators (Cont…)

Operator Description Example
Simple assignment operator. Assigns values from right C = A + B will assign the value of A
= side operands to left side operand + B to C
Add AND assignment operator. It adds the right C += A is equivalent to C = C + A
+= operand to the left operand and assign the result to the
left operand.
Subtract AND assignment operator. It subtracts the C -= A is equivalent to C = C - A
-= right operand from the left operand and assigns the
result to the left operand.
Multiply AND assignment operator. It multiplies the C *= A is equivalent to C = C * A
*= right operand with the left operand and assigns the
result to the left operand.
Divide AND assignment operator. It divides the left C /= A is equivalent to C = C / A
/= operand with the right operand and assigns the result to
the left operand.
Modulus AND assignment operator. It takes modulus C %= A is equivalent to C = C % A
%= using two operands and assigns the result to the left
operand.
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Assignment Operators (Cont…)

Operator Description Example
<<= 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.
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Assignment Operators (Cont…)

#include <stdio.h>

int main()
{

int a = 21;
int c ;

c = a;
printf("Line 1 - = Operator Example, Value of c = %d\n", c );
c += a;
printf("Line 2 - += Operator Example, Value of c = %d\n", c );
c -= a;
printf("Line 3 - -= Operator Example, Value of c = %d\n", c );
c *= a;
printf("Line 4 - *= Operator Example, Value of c = %d\n", c );
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Assignment Operators (Cont…)

c /= a;
printf("Line 5 - /= Operator Example, Value of c = %d\n", c );
c = 200;
c %= a;
printf("Line 6 - %= Operator Example, Value of c = %d\n", c );
c <<= 2;
printf("Line 7 - <<= Operator Example, Value of c = %d\n", c );
c >>= 2;
printf("Line 8 - >>= Operator Example, Value of c = %d\n", c );
c &= 2;
printf("Line 9 - &= Operator Example, Value of c = %d\n", c );
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Assignment Operators (Cont…)

c ^= 2;
printf("Line 10 - ^= Operator Example, Value of c = %d\n", c );

c |= 2;
printf("Line 11 - |= Operator Example, Value of c = %d\n", c );

return 0;

}
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Conditional Operator
• Given that A, B, C are expressions; then the
expression
A?B:C
has as its value B if A is nonzero, and C otherwise;
only expression B or C is evaluated.

In order to generate 1 or 0 for A, it should be a

relational or logical expression.
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Conditional Operator (Cont…)

• Expressions B and C must be of the same data type.
• If they are not, but are both arithmetic data types,
the usual arithmetic conversions are applied to
make their types the same.
• If one is a pointer and the other is zero, the latter is
taken as a null pointer of the same type as the
former.
• If one is a pointer to void and the other is a pointer
to another type, the latter is converted to a pointer
to void, and that is the resulting type.
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Conditional Operator (Cont…)

#include<stdio.h>

int main()
{
int num;
int flag;

printf("Enter the Number : ");

scanf("%d",&num);

flag = ((num%2==0)?1:0);

printf ("Flag value : %d \n", flag);

return 0;
}
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Type Cast Operator

• You can convert the values from one type to
another explicitly using the cast operator as
follows:
(type_name) expression

• Refere Lecture 04
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sizeof Operator
• Given that type is as the name of a basic data
type, an enumerated data type (preceded by the
keyword enum), a typedef-defined type, or is a
derived data type; A is an expression; then the
expression
sizeof (type) has as its value the number of
bytes needed to contain a value of the specified
type;
sizeof A  has as its value the number of bytes
required to hold the result of the evaluation of A.
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sizeof Operator (Cont…)

#include<stdio.h>

int main() {

int ivar = 100;

char cvar = 'a';
float fvar = 10.10;
double dvar = 18977670.10;

printf("%d\n", sizeof(ivar));
printf("%d\n", sizeof(cvar));
printf("%d\n", sizeof(fvar));
printf("%d\n", sizeof(dvar));
return 0;
}
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Comma Operator
• The comma operator can be used to link the related
expressions together.
• A comma linked expression is evaluated from left to right
and the value of the right most expression is the value of
the combined expression.
x = (a = 2, b = 4, a+b)
• In this example, the expression is evaluated from left to
right.
• So at first, variable ‘a’ is assigned value 2, then variable
‘b’ is assigned value 4 and then value 6 is assigned to the
variable ‘x’.
• Comma operators are commonly used in for loops, while
loops, while exchanging values.
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Comma Operator (Cont…)

• Comma operator returns the value of the
rightmost operand when multiple comma
operators are used inside an expression.
• Comma Operator Can acts as :
▫ Operator : In the Expression
▫ Separator : Declaring Variable , In Function Call
Parameter List
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Comma Operator (Cont…)

#include<stdio.h>
int main()
{
int num1 = 1, num2 = 2;
int res, x, a, b;

x = (a = 2, b = 4, a+b);

res = (num1, num2);

printf("%d\n", res);

x = (a = 2, b = 4, a+b);
printf("%d\n", x);

return 0;
}
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C Arithmetic Expression
• Arithmetic expression in C is a combination of
variables, constants and operators written in a
proper syntax.
• C can easily handle any complex mathematical
expressions but these mathematical expressions
have to be written in a proper syntax.
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Operator Precedence & Associativity

• Operator Precedence
▫ When an expression contains multiple operators,
the precedence of the operators controls the order
in which the individual operators are evaluated.
▫ For example, the expression x + y * z is evaluated
as x + (y * z) because the * operator has higher
precedence than the binary + operator.
▫ The precedence of an operator is established by
the definition of its associated grammar
production.
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Operator Precedence & Associativity

(Cont…)
• Operator Associativity
▫ A higher precedence operator is evaluated before a
lower precedence operator.
▫ If the precedence levels of operators are the same,
then the order of evaluation depends on their
associativity (or, grouping).
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Operator Precedence & Associativity

(Cont…)
• Example
(1 > 2 + 3 && 4)
This expression is equivalent to:
((1 > (2 + 3)) && 4)
i.e, (2 + 3) executes first resulting into 5 then, first
part of the expression (1 > 5) executes resulting
into 0 (false) then, (0 && 4) executes resulting
into 0 (false)
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Operator Precedence & Associativity

(Cont…)
(1 > 2 + 3 && 4) can be written as follows;
=((1 > (2 + 3)) && 4)
=((1>5) && 4)
=(0 && 4)
=0
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Summary of C Operators
• These operators are listed in order of decreasing
precedence.
• Operators grouped together have the same
precedence.
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Summary of C Operators (Cont…)

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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Questions
• Try this out:
▫ 250*2/4+1
▫ 5%2*5/5
▫ 2+300-200/2
▫ 1 && 1 || 0
▫ 1 || 1 +3-4 && 1
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Objective Re-cap
• Now you should be able to:
▫ Define the terms operators, operands, operator
precedence and associativity.
▫ Describe operators in C programming language.
▫ Practice the effect of different operators in C
programming language.
▫ Justify evaluation of expressions in programming.
▫ Apply taught concepts for writing programs.
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References
• Chapter 04, Appendix A, section 5 -
Programming in C, 3rd Edition, Stephen G.
Kochan
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