Introduction

An operator in a programming language is a symbol that tells the compiler or interpreter to perform a specific mathematical, relational or logical operation and produce a final result.

C has many powerful operators. Many C operators are binary operators, which means they have two operands. For example, in a / b, / is a binary operator that accepts two operands (a, b). There are some unary operators which take one operand (for example: ~, ++), and only one ternary operator ? :.

Syntax

• expr1 operator
• operator expr2
• expr1 operator expr2
• expr1 ? expr2 : expr3

Remarks

Operators have an arity, a precedence and an associativity.

• Arity indicates the number of operands. In C, three different operator arities exist:
• Unary (1 operand)
• Binary (2 operands)
• Ternary (3 operands)
• Precedence indicates which operators “bind” first to their operands. That is, which operator has priority to operate on its operands. For instance, the C language obeys the convention that multiplication and division have precedence over addition and subtraction:

a * b + c

Gives the same result as

(a * b) + c

If this is not what was wanted, precedence can be forced using parentheses, because they have the highest precedence of all operators.

a * (b + c)