C++ - Operators

Operators are used to perform operation on a single operand or two operands. Operators in C++ can be categorized as follows:

Arithmetic operators
Assignment operators
Comparison operators
Increment/Decrement operators
Logical operators
Bitwise operators
Miscellaneous operators

C++ Arithmetic operators

Arithmetic operators are used to perform arithmetic operations on two operands.

Operator	Name	Description
+	Addition	Add two values
-	Subtraction	Subtract one value from another
*	Multiplication	Multiply two values
/	Division	Divide one value by another
%	Modulo	Returns remainder of division operation

Example

C++ Assignment operators

Assignment operators are used to assign values of right hand side expression to left hand side operand.

Operator	Expression	Equivalent to	Description
=	a = 5	a = 5	Example
+=	a += b	a = a + b
-=	a -= b	a = a - b
*=	a *= b	a = a * b
/=	a /= b	a = a / b
%=	a %= b	a = a % b
&=	a &= b	a = a & b	More Info
\|=	a \|= b	a = a \| b	More Info
^=	a ^= b	a = a ^ b	More Info
>>=	a >>= b	a = a >> b	More Info
<<=	a <<= b	a = a << b	More Info

C++ Comparison operators

Comparison operators are used to compare values of two operands. It returns true when values matches and returns false when values does not match.

Operator	Description
==	Equal
!=	Not equal
>	Greater than
<	Less than
>=	Greater than or equal to
<=	Less than or equal to

Example

C++ Increment/Decrement operators

Increment and decrement operators are used to increase and decrease the value of variable.

Operator	Name	Description	Example
++x	Pre-increment	Increases the value of x by 1, then returns x.	Example
x++	Post-increment	Returns x, then increases the value of x by 1.	Example
--x	Pre-decrement	Decreases the value of x by 1, then returns x.	Example
x--	Post-decrement	Returns x, then decreases the value of x by 1.	Example

C++ Logical operators

Logical operators are used to combine two or more conditions.

Operator	Name	Description
&&	AND	Returns true when all conditions are true
\|\|	OR	Returns true when any of the conditions is true
!	NOT	Returns opposite boolean result

More Info

C++ Bitwise operators

Bitwise operators are used to perform bitwise operations on two operands.

Operator	Name	Description	More Info
&	AND	Returns 1 if both bits at the same position in both operands are 1, else returns 0.	More Info
\|	OR	Returns 1 if one of two bits at the same position in both operands is 1, else returns 0.	More Info
^	XOR	Returns 1 if only one of two bits at the same position in both operands is 1, else returns 0.	More Info
~	NOT	Reverse all the bits.	More Info
>>	Right shift	The left operand is moved right by the number of bits present in the right operand.	More Info
<<	Left shift	The left operand value is moved left by the number of bits present in the right operand.	More Info

C++ Miscellaneous operators

The table below describes other operators supported by C++:

Operator	Description
comma operator (,)	Evaluates each of its operands (from left to right) and returns the value of the last operand.
sizeof()	Returns size of a data type, constants or variable.
ternary operator (?:)	Returns one of the two values based on value of boolean expression.
Address-of operator (&)	Returns address of a variable.
Dereference operator (*)	Pointer to a variable.

C++ Operators Precedence

Operator precedence (order of operations) is a collection of rules that reflect conventions about which procedures to perform first in order to evaluate a given expression.

For example, multiplication has higher precedence than addition. Thus, the expression 1 + 2 × 3 is interpreted to have the value 1 + (2 × 3) = 7, and not (1 + 2) × 3 = 9. When exponent is used in the expression, it has precedence over both addition and multiplication. Thus 3 + 5² = 28 and 3 × 5² = 75.

The following table lists the precedence and associativity of C++ operators. Operators are listed top to bottom, in descending precedence. Operators with higher precedence are evaluated before operators with relatively lower precedence. When operators have the same precedence, associativity of the operators determines the order in which the operations are performed.

Precedence	Operator	Description	Associativity
1	::	Scope resolution operator	Left to Right
2	a++ a--	Postfix increment, Postfix decrement
	type() type{}	Functional cast
	a()	Function call
	a[]	Subscript
	. ->	Member access
3	++a --a	Prefix increment, Prefix decrement	Right to Left
	+a -a	Unary plus, Unary minus
	!	Logical NOT
	~	Bitwise NOT
	(type)	C-style cast
	*a	Indirection (dereference)
	&a	Address-of
	sizeof	sizeof operator
	new new[]	Dynamic memory allocation
	delete delete[]	Dynamic memory deallocation
4	.* ->*	Pointer to member	Left to Right
5	* / %	Multiplication, Division, Remainder
6	+ -	Addition, Subtraction
7	<< >>	Bitwise left shift and right shift
8	< <= > >=	Less than, Less than or equal, Greater than, and Greater than or equal
9	== !=	Equality and Inequality
10	&	Bitwise AND
11	^	Bitwise XOR
12	\|	Bitwise OR
13	&&	Logical AND
14	\|\|	Logical OR
15	a?b:c	Conditional (ternary) operator	Right to Left
	throw	throw operator
	=	Direct assignment
	+= -= *= /= %=	Compound assignment by sum, difference, product, quotient and remainder
	<<= >>=	Compound assignment by Bitwise left shift and right shift
	&= ^= \|=	Compound assignment by Bitwise AND, XOR and OR
16	,	Comma	Left to Right