C language supports a rich set of built-in operators. An operator is a special symbol that tells the compiler to perform specific mathematical or logical operations. Operators in programming languages are taken from mathematics.

Types of Operators

1. Arithmetic operators

2. Relational operators

3. Logical operators

4. Bitwise operators

5. Assignment operators

6. Type Information Operators(Special operators)

Arithmetic Operators

An operator is a special symbol that tells the compiler to perform specific mathematical or logical operations. Operators in programming languages are taken from mathematics.

Arithmetic Operators Example

#include <stdio.h>
#include <conio.h>
void main()
{
 int a b ,c;
 clrscr(); // Clear the screen 
 a=10;
 b=3;
 c = a+b;
 printf("Total (a+b) = %d \n",c);

 c = a-b;
 printf("Sub (a-b )= %d \n",c);
 
 c = a*b;
 printf("Mul (a*b) = %d \n",c);
 
 c=a/b;
 printf("Div (a/b) = %d \n",c);
 
 c=a%b;
 printf("Remainder (a Mod b) = %d \n",c);
 
 getch();
}

Output

Total (a+b) = 13
Sub (a-b ) = 7
Mul (a*b) = 30
Div (a/b) = 3
Remainder (a Mod b) = 1

Relational operators

These operators are used to compare values and always result in boolean value (True or False). The following is a table of relational operators in C. Suppose you have two integer variables X, Y and having values 5, 2 respectively then

Relational Operators Example

#include <stdio.h>
#include <conio.h>
void main()
{
 int a = 10, b = 20, c = 30;
 clrscr();
 printf("%d == %d result %d \n", a, b, a == b);
 printf("%d == %d result %d \n", a, c, a == c); 
 printf("%d > %d result %d \n", a, b, a > b); 
 printf("%d > %d result %d \n", a, c, a > c); 
 printf("%d < %d result %d \n", a, b, a < b); 
 printf("%d < %d result %d \n", a, c, a < c); 
 printf("%d != %d result %d \n", a, b, a != b); 
 printf("%d != %d result %d \n", a, c, a != c);
 printf("%d >= %d result %d \n", a, b, a >= b); 
 printf("%d >= %d result %d \n", a, c, a >= c);
 printf("%d <= %d result %d \n", a, b, a <= b); 
 printf("%d <= %d result %d \n", a, c, a <= c); 
 getch();
}

Output

10 == 30 result 0 
10 > 20 result 0 
10 > 30 result 0 
10 < 20 result 1 
10 < 30 result 1 
10 != 20 result 1 
10 != 30 result 1 
10 >= 20 result 0 
10 >= 30 result 0 
10 <= 20 result 1 
10 <= 30 result 1

Logical Operators

These operators are used to compare values and always result in boolean value (True or False). The following is a table of logical operators in C. Suppose you have two boolean variables X, Y and having values True, False respectively then

These operators are used to perform logical operations on the given two variables.

Logical Operators Example

#include <stdio.h>
#include <conio.h>
void main()
{
 int a = 30,b =10, c=10;
 clrscr();
 if(a>b && a>c )
 printf("\n a is grather then b and c ");
 else
 printf("\n a is not grather then b and c ");
 getch();
}

Output

a is grather then b and c

Bitwise Operators

These operators work on bits of a binary number and perform bit by bit operation. The following is a table of bitwise operators in C. Suppose you have two integer variables X, Y and having values 4, 5 respectively and theirs binary equivalent would be 100, 101 then

Bitwise Operators Example

#include <stdio.h>
#include <conio.h>
void main()
{
 int m = 10,n = 20,AND,OR,XOR,NOT ;
 clrscr();
 AND = (m&n);
 OR = (m|n);
 NOT = (~m);
 XOR = (m^n);
 printf("AND value = %d\n",AND );
 printf("OR value = %d\n",OR );
 printf("NOT value = %d\n",NOT );
 printf("XOR value = %d\n",XOR );
 printf("left shift value = %d\n", m << 1);
 printf("right shift value = %d\n", m >> 1);
 getch();
}

Output

AND value =0 
OR value = 30 
NOT value = -11 
XOR value = 30 
left shift value = 20 
right shift value = 5

Assignment Operators

These operators are used to assign a new value to a variable, a property, an event, or an indexer element. The following is a table of assignments operators in C. Suppose you have two integer variables X, Y and having values 5, 2 then

Assignment Operators Example

#include <stdio.h>
#include <conio.h>
void main()
{
 int a ,b;
 clrscr();
 a=10;
 b = a;
 printf("b = %d \n", b);

 b += a; // or b = b+a
 printf("b = %d \n", b);

 b -= a; // or b = b-a
 printf("b = %d \n", b);

 b *= a; // or b = b*a
 printf("b = %d \n", b);

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

 b %= a; // or b = b%a
 printf("b = %d \n", b);
 getch();
}

Output

b = 10 
b = 20 
b = 10 
b = 100
b = 10 
b = 0

Type Information Operators (Special operators)

These operators are used to provides information about a particular type. The following is a table of type information operators in C.

Sizeof Operator Example

#include <stdio.h>
#include <conio.h>
void main()
{
 int a;
 char b;
 float c;
 double d;
 clrscr();
 printf("Storage size of data type int is :%d \n",sizeof(a));
 printf("Storage size of data type char is :%d \n",sizeof(b));
 printf("Storage size of data type float is :%d \n",sizeof(c));
 printf("Storage size of data type double is :%d\n",sizeof(d));
 getch();
}

Misc. Operators

There are some more important operators supported by C. The following is a table of some Misc operators in C. Suppose you have two integer variables X, Y and having values 5, 2 then

Misc. Operators Example

#include <stdio.h>
#include <conio.h>
void main()
{
 int a = 10,b = 20 ,m ;
 clrscr();
 m= a>b? a+b: a+10;
 printf("Result = %d\n",m);
 getch();
}

Output

Result = 20

#include <stdio.h>
#include <conio.h>
void main()
{
 int *ptr, q;
 q = 10;
 ptr = &q;
 printf("%d", *ptr);
 getch();
}

Output

Storage size of data type int is :4 
Storage size of data type char is :1 
Storage size of data type float is :4 
Storage size of data type double is :8

Read More:

- Conditional Statements : if, else, switch

- Loop Statements in C