Fundamentals of Programming
COSC 11023 / COST 11023
Operators in C
Sachintha Pitigala
© 2023
Expressions in C
● Most of the C statements are expressions.
● Expression is a combinations of operators and operands.
x
● Example:
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Assignment Operator (=)
● In C, equal sign (=) is called as the assignment operator.
● It is different from the mathematical equal sign.
● It assigns the values in the right hand side to the left
hand side variable.
int x;
x = 12;
● Above statement sets the value of x to 12.
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Assignment Operator (=)
● Since the assignment is also an expression, we can combine
several assignments as illustrated in the following example:
int x, y, z;
x = y = z = 12;
● Also, variables can be declared and initialized in one
statement:
float n = 4.5;
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Arithmetic Operators
● Arithmetic operators are used to perform calculations in
C.
● The arithmetic operators available in C:
■ + Addition
■ - Subtraction
■ * Multiplication
■ / Division
■ % Modulus
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Using Arithmetic Operators
● Arithmetic operators are used with two operands.
● The portion to the right of the operator is the expression.
● Example statements:
○ What does each one mean?
■ cost = price + tax;
■ owed = total - discount;
■ area = l * w;
■ one_eighth = 1 / 8;
■ r = 5 % 2;
■ x = -y;
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The Modulus Operator
● The modulus operator (%) returns the remainder rather
than the result of division.
● Examples:
○ 9 % 2 would result in 1.
○ 10 % 2 would result in 0.
○ 20 % 6 would result in 2.
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The Negation Operator
● The negation operator used to flip the sign of a number.
● It is a unary operator.
● Examples:
int x = 10;
printf (“%d\n” , -x);
output:
-10 8
Incrementing and Decrementing Operators
● Adding one to a variable is called incrementing.
● In C, you increment with the ++ operator.
● Subtracting one from a variable is called decrementing.
● In C, you decrement with the -- operator.
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Incrementing and Decrementing Operators
● Variation if increment and decrement (Post
increment/decrement and Pre increment/decrement)
k = j++;
○ In the case of the statement above, k is assigned the value
of the variable j before j is incremented.
k = ++j;
○ In this second example, k is assigned the value of j after j is
incremented.
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Incrementing and Decrementing Operators
● For example, if n is 5, then
x = n++;
is equivalent
x = n;
n++;
but
x = ++n;
is equivalent
n++;
x = n;
● The increment and decrement operators can only be applied to
variables; an expression like (i+j)++ is illegal. 11
Operator Precedence
● Consider the following arithmetic operation:
○ left to right
6/2*1+2=5
○ right to left
6/2 * 1 + 2 = 1
● using parentheses
= 6 / (2 * 1) + 2
= (6 / 2) + 2
=3+2
=5 12
Order of Operators (Operator Precedence)
•The following table operators are listed top to bottom, in
descending precedence.
Precedence Operator Description Associativity
1 () Parenthesis Left to right
2 (+), (-), ++, - - Unary plus or minus, prefix increment or Right to left
decrement
3 */% Multiplication, division, modulus Left to right
4 +- Addition or subtraction Left to right
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Parenthesized Expressions
● What if the precedence order is not what you want?
example: sale1 + sale2 * TAXRATE
● in this case the multiplication would happen first, but you might
want the addition first
● answer: parenthesize the expressions you want to happen first
result: (sale1 + sale2) * TAXRATE
● parenthesized expressions have highest precedence 14
Programming Tip: Parenthesizing
● Does not hurt to include parentheses for all expressions
● Thus you can guarantee the order of evaluation
● Example:
total = totalSale + TAXRATE * totalSale
becomes
total = (totalSale + (TAXRATE * totalSale))
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Operator Precedence - Examples
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