Operators in C | Set 1 (Arithmetic Operators)

Operators are the foundation of any programming language. Thus the functionality of C language is incomplete without the use of operators. Operators allow us to perform different kinds of operations on operands. In C, operators in Can be categorized in following categories:

Arithmetic Operators (+, -, *, /, %, post-increment, pre-increment, post-decrement, pre-decrement)
Relational Operators (==, !=, >, <, >= & <=) Logical Operators (&&, || and !)
Bitwise Operators (&, |, ^, ~, >> and <<)
Assignment Operators (=, +=, -=, *=, etc)
Other Operators (conditional, comma, sizeof, address, redirection)

Arithmetic Operators: These are used to perform arithmetic/mathematical operations on operands. The binary operators falling in this category are:

Addition: The ‘+’ operator adds two operands. For example, x+y.
Subtraction: The ‘-‘ operator subtracts two operands. For example, x-y.
Multiplication: The ‘*’ operator multiplies two operands. For example, x*y.
Division: The ‘/’ operator divides the first operand by the second. For example, x/y.
Modulus: The ‘%’ operator returns the remainder when first operand is divided by the second. For example, x%y.

C

// C program to demonstrate working of binary arithmetic operators 
#include <stdio.h> 
  
int main() 
{ 
    int a = 10, b = 4, res; 
  
    // printing a and b 
    printf("a is %d and b is %d\n", a, b); 
  
    res = a + b; // addition 
    printf("a+b is %d\n", res); 
  
    res = a - b; // subtraction 
    printf("a-b is %d\n", res); 
  
    res = a * b; // multiplication 
    printf("a*b is %d\n", res); 
  
    res = a / b; // division 
    printf("a/b is %d\n", res); 
  
    res = a % b; // modulus 
    printf("a%b is %d\n", res); 
  
    return 0; 
} 

C++

#include <iostream> 
using namespace std; 
  
int main() { 
    int a = 10, b = 4, res;  
  
    // printing a and b  
    cout<<"a is "<<a<<" and b is "<<b<<"\n";  
  
    // addition 
    res = a + b;   
    cout << "a+b is: "<< res << "\n";  
  
    // subtraction 
    res = a - b;   
    cout << "a-b is: "<< res << "\n";  
      
    // multiplication 
    res = a * b;   
    cout << "a*b is: "<< res << "\n";  
      
    // division  
    res = a / b;  
    cout << "a/b is: "<< res << "\n";  
      
    // modulus  
    res = a % b;  
    cout << "a%b is: "<< res << "\n";  
  
    return 0; 
} 

Output:

a is 10 and b is: 4
a+b is: 14
a-b is: 6
a*b is: 40
a/b is: 2
a%b is: 2

The ones falling into the category of unary arithmetic operators are:

Increment: The ‘++’ operator is used to increment the value of an integer. When placed before the variable name (also called pre-increment operator), its value is incremented instantly. For example, ++x.
And when it is placed after the variable name (also called post-increment operator), its value is preserved temporarily until the execution of this statement and it gets updated before the execution of the next statement. For example, x++.
Decrement: The ‘ – – ‘ operator is used to decrement the value of an integer. When placed before the variable name (also called pre-decrement operator), its value is decremented instantly. For example, – – x.
And when it is placed after the variable name (also called post-decrement operator), its value is preserved temporarily until the execution of this statement and it gets updated before the execution of the next statement. For example, x – –.

C

// C program to demonstrate working of Unary arithmetic operators 
#include <stdio.h> 
  
int main() 
{ 
    int a = 10, b = 4, res; 
  
    // post-increment example: 
    // res is assigned 10 only, a is not updated yet 
    res = a++; 
    printf("a is %d and res is %d\n", a, res); // a becomes 11 now 
  
    // post-decrement example: 
    // res is assigned 11 only, a is not updated yet 
    res = a--; 
    printf("a is %d and res is %d\n", a, res); // a becomes 10 now 
  
    // pre-increment example: 
    // res is assigned 11 now since a is updated here itself 
    res = ++a; 
    // a and res have same values = 11 
    printf("a is %d and res is %d\n", a, res); 
  
    // pre-decrement example: 
    // res is assigned 10 only since a is updated here itself 
    res = --a; 
    // a and res have same values = 10 
    printf("a is %d and res is %d\n", a, res); 
  
    return 0; 
} 

C++

#include <iostream> 
using namespace std; 
  
int main() { 
    int a = 10, b = 4, res; 
  
    // post-increment example: 
    // res is assigned 10 only, a is not updated yet 
    res = a++; 
    // a becomes 11 now 
    cout << "a is "<<a<<" and res is "<<res<< "\n";  
  
    // post-decrement example: 
    // res is assigned 11 only, a is not updated yet 
    res = a--; 
    // a becomes 10 now 
    cout << "a is "<<a<<" and res is "<<res<< "\n"; 
  
    // pre-increment example: 
    // res is assigned 11 now since a is updated here itself 
    res = ++a; 
    // a and res have same values = 11 
    cout << "a is "<<a<<" and res is "<<res<< "\n"; 
  
    // pre-decrement example: 
    // res is assigned 10 only since a is updated here itself 
    res = --a; 
    // a and res have same values = 10 
    cout << "a is "<<a<<" and res is "<<res<< "\n"; 
  
    return 0; 
} 

Output:

a is 11 and res is 10
a is 10 and res is 11
a is 11 and res is 11
a is 10 and res is 10

We will soon be discussing other categories of operators in different posts.

To know about Operator Precedence and Associativity, refer this link:

Quiz on Operators in C

This article is contributed by Ayush Jaggi. Please write comments if you find anything incorrect, or you want to share more information about the topic discussed above

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