Operators and Expressions Unit 2

UNIT- 2 OPERATORS AND EXPRESSIONS

UNIT STRUCTURE

2.1 Learning Objectives

2.2 Introduction
2.3 Operators
2.3.1 Arithmetic Operators
2.3.2 Relational Operators
2.3.3 Logical Operators
2.3.4 Assignment Operators
2.3.5 Increments and Decrement Operators
2.3.6 Conditional Operator
2.3.7 Bitwise Operators
2.3.8 Other Operators
2.4 Precedence and Associativity
2.5 Expressions
2.6 Type Conversion
2.7 Let Us Sum Up
2.8 Further Readings
2.9 Answers To Check Your Progress
2.10 Model Questions

2.1 LEARNING OBJECTIVES

After going through this unit, you will be able to :

 define operators and operands
 define and use different types of operators like arithmetic,
logical, relational, assignment, conditional, bitwise and special
operators
 learn about the order of precedence among operators and
the direction in which each associates.
 use expession in programming
perform type conversion to get the correct result in expression

2.2 INTRODUCTION

In our previous unit we have learnt to use variables, constants, data

types in programming. With the help of operators, these variables,
constants and other elements can be combined to form expressions.
In this unit we will discuss various operators supported by C

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language such as Arithmetic operators, Relational operators, Logi-

cal operators, Assignment operators, Increments, Decrement opera-
tors, Conditional operators, Bitwise operators, Special operators etc.
Besides, we will learn to carry out type conversion.

2.3 OPERATORS

Operators are special symbols which instruct the compiler to per-

form certain mathematical or logical manipulations. Operators are
used in programs to manipulate data and variables. The data items
that operators act upon are called operands. Operators are used
with operands to build expressions. Some operators require two op-
erands, while other act upon only one operand.
C includes a large number of operators which fall into differ-
ent categories. These are:
• Arithmetic Operators
• Relational Operators
• Logical Operators
• Assignment Operators
• Increments and Decrement Operators
• Conditional Operators
• Bitwise Operators
• Special Operators

2.3.1 Arithmetic Operators

There are five main arithmetic operators in C language. They are ‘+’
for additions, ‘-’ for subtraction, ‘*’ for multiplication, ‘/’ for division and
‘%’ for remainder after integer division. This ‘%’ operator is also known
as modulus operator. The operators +, -, * and / all work the same
way as they do in other languages. These operators can operate on
any built-in data types allowed in C. Some uses of arithmetic opera-
tors are :
x+y
x-y
-x+y
a*b+c
-a*b

Here, a, b, c, x and y are operands. The modulus (%) operator pro-

duces the remainder of an integer division. For example :
5/2=2 (Division)
where as 5 % 2 = 1 (Modulo Division or modulus)

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The operands acted upon by arithmetic operators must rep-

resent numeric values. Thus, the operands can be integer quantities,
floating-point quantities or characters (character constants represent
integer values, as determined by the computer’s character set). Modu-
lus cannot be used with floating-point numbers. It requires that both
operands be integers and the second operand be nonzero.
Division of one integer quantity by another is referred to as
interger division. The result of this operation will be a truncated quo-
tient (i.e., the decimal portion of the quotient will be dropped). On the
other hand, if a division operation is carried out with two floating-point
numbers, or with one floating-point number and one integer, the re-
sult will be a flaoting-point quotient.

Let us consider the following expression.

x = 100+ 2/4;
What will be the actual value of x ?
Is it 100 + 0.5 =100.5
or 102 / 4 = 25.5
Since / has precedence over +, the expression will be evaluated as
100 + 0.5 = 100.5
To avoid ambiguity, there are defined presedence rules for operators
in C language. The concept of precedence will be discussed later in
this unit.

Integer Arithmetic
When an arithmetic operation is performed on two whole numbers or
integers then such an operation is called integer arithmetic. It al-
ways gives an integer as the result. Let, x = 5 and y = 2 be two integer
numbers. Then the integer arithmetic leads to the following results:

x+y =5+2=7 (Addition)

x–y =5-2=3 (Subtraction)
x * y = 5 * 2 = 10 (Multiplication)
x/y = 5/2=2 (Division)
x%y=5%2=1 (Modulus)

In integer division the fractional part is truncated. Division gives the

quotient, whereas modulus gives the remainder of division. Follow-
ing program is an example to illustrate the above operations.

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Program1: Summation, subtraction, multiplication, division and

modulo division of two integer numbers.
#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
void main( )
{
int n1, n2, sum, sub, mul, div, mod;
clrscr( );
scanf (“%d %d”, &n1, &n2); //inputs the operands
sum = n1+n2;
printf(“\n The sum is = %d”, sum); //display the output
sub = n1-n2;
printf(“\n The difference is = %d”, sub);
mul = n1*n2;
printf(“\n The product is = %d”, mul);
div = n1/n2;
printf(“\n The division is = %d”, div);
mod = n1%n2;
printf(“\n The modulus is = %d”, mod);
getch( );
}

If we enter 5 for n1 and 2 for n2, then the output of the above program
will be :
The sum is = 7
The difference is = 3
The product is = 10
The division is = 2
The modulus is = 1

Floating point arithmetic

When an arithmetic operation is performed on two real numbers or
fractional numbers, such an operation is called floating point arith-
metic. The floating point results can be truncated according to the
properties requirement. The modulus operator is not applicable for
fractional numbers. Let us consider two operands x and y with float-
ing point values 15.0 and 2.0 respectively. Then,
x + y = 15.0 +2.0 = 17.0
x – y = 15.0 - 2.0 = 13.0
x * y = 15.0 * 2.0 = 30.0
x / y = 15.0 / 2.0 = 7.5

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Mixed mode arithmetic

When one of the operands is real and the other is an integer and if the
arithmetic operation is carried out on these two operands, then it is
called as mixed mode arithmetic. If any one operand is of real type
then the result will always be real, thus 15 / 10.0 = 1.5

2.3.2 Relational Operators

Often it is required to compare the relationship between operands
and bring out a decision and program accordingly. Two variables of
same type may have a relationship between them. They can be equal
or one can be greater than the other or less than the other. We can
check this by using relational operators. While checking, the out-
come may be true or false. “True” is represented as 1 and “False” is
represented as 0. It is also by convention that any non-zero value is
considered as 1(true) and zero value is considered as 0 (false). For
example, we may compare the age of two persons, marks of stu-
dents, salary of persons, or the price of two items, and so on.

There are four relational operators in C. They are:

Operator Meaning

< less than

<= less than or equal to
> greater than
>= greater than or equal to

All these operators fall within the same precedence group, which is
lower than the arithmetic and unary operators. The associativity of
these operators is left to right. There are two equality operators as-
sociated with the relational operators. They are:
== equal to
!= not equal to

For checking equality the double equal sign is used, which is different
from other programming languages. The statement a == b checks
whether a is equal to b or not. If they are equal, the output will be true;
otherwise , it will be false. The statement a = b assigns the value of b
to a. For example, if b = 10, then a is also assigns the value of 10.
>, >=, <, <= have precedence over == and !=. Again, the arithmetic
operators +, -, *, / have precedence over relational and logical
operators. Therefore, in the following statement :

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a-4>6
a - 4 will be evaluated first and only then the relation will be checked.
So, there is no need to enclose a - 4 within parenthesis.
A simple relational expression contains only one relational operator
and takes the following form:

exp1 relational operator exp2

where exp1 and exp2 are expressions, which may be simple con-
stants, variables or combination of them. Some examples of rela-
tional expressions and their evaluated values are listed below:
4.5 <= 12 TRUE
-5 > 0 FALSE
10 < 8 + 5 TRUE
5 == 2 FALSE
6! = 2 TRUE

When arithmetic expressions are used on either side of a relational

operator, the arithmetic expressions will be evaluated first and then
the results compared. Relational expressions are used in decision
making statements of C language such as if, while and for state-
ments to decide the course of action of a running program. We shall
learn about if, while and for statement very soon in our next unit.

2.3.3 Logical Operators

Logical operators compare or evaluate logical and relational expres-
sions. C language has the following logical operators:

&& denoting Logical AND

|| denoting Logical OR
! denoting Logical NOT

The logical AND and Logical OR operators are used when we want
to test more than one condition and make decisions.

Logical AND (&&)

The logical AND operator is used for evaluating two conditions or
expressions with relational operators simultaneously. If both the ex-
pressions to the left and to the right of the logical operator are true,
then the whole compound expression is true. For example:

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a > b && x = = 8
The expression to the left is a > b and that on the right is x == 8.
The whole expression is true only if both expressions are true i.e., if
a is greater than b and x is equal to 8.

Logical OR (||)
The logical OR is used to combine two expressions and the condi-
tion evaluates to true if any one of the two expressions is true.
For example:
a < m || a < n
The expression evaluates to true if any one of the expressions a<m
and a<n is true or if both of them are true. It evaluates to true if a is
less than either m or n and when a is less than both m and n.

Logical NOT (!)

The logical NOT operator takes single expression and evaluates to
true if the expression is false and evaluates to false if the expression
is true. In other words, it just reverses the value of the expression.

For example, ! (x >= y)

This NOT expression evaluates to true only if the value of x is neither

greater than nor equal to y .

2.3.4 Assignment Operators

In C language, there are several different assignment operators. The

most commonly used assignment operator is =. The assignment
operator(=) evaluates the expression on the right of the operator and
substitutes it to the value or variable on the left of the operand. For
example:
x=a+b;
In the above statement, the value of a + b is evaluated and substi-
tuted to the variable x. Let us consider the statement x = x + 1; This
will have the effect of incrementing the value of x by 1. This can also
be written as x + = 1;
The commonly used shorthand assignment operators are as follows:
a=a+1 is same as a += 1
a=a–1 is same as a -= 1
a = a * (n+1) is same as a *= (n+1)
a = a / (n+1) is same as a /= (n+1)

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a=a%b is same as a %= b

The assignment operators =, + =, - =, * =, / =, % = , have the same

precedence than the arithmetic operators. Therefore, the arithmetic
operations will be carried out first before they are used to assign the
values. C language allows multiple assignments in the following form:

identifier1 = identifier2 = identifier3 = .....= expression

For example, a = b = c = 50;

The assignment operator = and the equality operator == are distinctly
different. The assignment operator is to assign a value to an identi-
fier, whereas the equality operator is used to determine if two expres-
sions have the same value.

If the two operands in an assignment expression are of different data

types, then the value of the expression on the right will automatically
be converted to the type of the identifier on the left. The entire assign-
ment expression will then be of this same data type. Under some
circumstances, this automatic type conversion can result in an alter-
ation of the data being assigned. For example:
• A floating-point value may be truncated if assigned to an inte
ger identifier. For example,
int n;
n = 5.5;
The above expression will cause the integer 5 to be assigned to i.
• A double-precision value may be rounded if assigned to an
integer identifier.
• An integer quantity may be altered if assigned to a shorter
integer identifier or to a character identifier.

Example: Let us consider i , j are two integer variables and p, q are

floating-point variables whose values are
i = 8;
j = 5;
p = 4.5;
q = -2.75;
Several assignments that make use of these variables are shown
below:

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Expression Shorthand expression Final value

i = i + 2; i += 2; 10
j = j * ( i - 2 ); j*=(i-2); 30
p=p/2; p /= 2; 2.25
i = i % ( j - 2 ); i %= ( j - 2); 2
p=p-q; p - = q; 7.25
Program 2: Calculate the sum and average of five numbers.
#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
void main( )
{
float a,b,c,d,e,sum,avg;
clrscr( );
printf(“Enter the five numbers:\n ”);
scanf(“%f%f%f%f%f ”, &a,&b,&c,&d,&e);
sum=a+b+c+d+e;
avg=sum/5.0;
printf(“\n\nSum is = %f ”,sum);
printf(“\nAverage is = %f ”,avg);
getch( );
}
If we enter 4,10,12, 3 and 6, then the output of the above program will
be :
Enter the five numbers:
4 10 12 3 6

Sum is = 35.00
Average is = 7.00

EXERCISE

Q. What is the output of the following program?

#include<stdio.h>
void main()
{
int i=15, j=4, m, n;
m = i > 9;
n = j > 2 && j != 2;
printf(“m=%d n=%d”, m,n);
}

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LET US KNOW

Unary Operators
The operator that acts upon a single operand to produce a new
value is called unary operator. Unary operators usually pre-
cede their single operands, though some unary operators are
written after their operands. Unary minus operation is distinctly
different from the arithmetic operator which denotes subtraction
(-). The subtraction operator requires two separate operands. All
unary operators are of equal precedence and have right-to-left
associativity. Following are some examples of the use of unary
minus operation:
-145 // unary minus is followed by an integer constant
-0.5 //unary minus is followed by an floting-point constant
-a //unary minus is followed by a variable ‘a’
-5 *(a + b) //unary minus is followed by an arithmetic expresion

CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

1. Choose the correct option:

(i) The shorthand expression for x = x + 10 is:
a) x += 10; b) +x = 10; c) x =+ 10; d) x = 10+;
(ii) What is the value of sum for the expression
sum = 5 + 3 * 4 - 1 % 3;
a) 31 b) 8 c) 7 d) 16
(iii) The expression i=30*10+27 evaluates to
a) 327 b) -327 c) 810 d) 0
2. State whether the following expressions are true or false.
(i) The modulus operators % can be used only with integers.
(ii) The modulo division operator produces the remainder of
an integer division
(iii) 10 % 3 yields a result of 3.
(iv) Unary operator requires more than one operands.
(v) If both the expressions to the left and to the right of the &&
operator is true, then the whole compound expression is
true.

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2.3.5 Increment and Decrement Operators

C language contains two increment and decrement operators which
are present in postfix and prefix forms. Both forms are used to incre-
ment or decrement the appropriate variables. The increment and dec-
rement operators are one of the unary operators which are very use- Pointer:
ful in C language. A pointer is a variable
which holds the address
of another variable
• Increment operator ++

The increment operator (++) adds 1 to the value of an operand or if

the operand is a pointer then increments the operand by the size of
the object to which it points. The operand receives the result of the
increment operation. We can put ++ before or after the operand. These
operators are used in a program as follows:
+ + i ; (prefix form)
or i + +; (postfix form)
The statement + + i; is equivalent to i = i + 1; or i + = 1;

In the above statements, i is an integer type variable. ++ i and i ++

means the same thing when they form statements independently.
But they behave differently when they are used in expressions on
right-hand side of an assignment statement. If ++ appears before
the operand (prefix form), the operand is incremented first and then
used in the expression. If we put ++ after the operand (postfix form),
the value of the operand is used in the expression before the operand
is incremented. Let us consider the following statements:
i = 5;
j = ++i; // pre increment
printf(“%d%d”, i, j);

In this case, the value of j and i would be 6. A prefix operator first

adds 1 to the operand and then the result is assigned to the variable
on the left. Thus, 1 is added to i and the value of i becomes 6. Then
this incremented value of i is assigned to j and the value of j also
becomes 6. If we rewrite the above statements as
i = 5;
j = i++; // post increment

then the value of j would be 5 and i would be 6. This is because a

postfix operator first assigns the value to the variable on the left and
then increments the operands. Thus, 5 is first assigned to j and then

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i is incremented by 1.

• Decrement operator - -

The decrement operator (- -) subtracts 1 from the value of a operand

or if the operand is a pointer, it decreases the operand by the size of
the object to whcih it points. The operand reveives the result of the
decrement operation.
Like increment operator, decrement operator - - can be put
before or after the operand. If it appears before the operand, the oper-
and is decremented and the decremented value is used in the ex-
pression. But if - - appears after the operand then the current value of
the operand is first used in the expression and then the operand is
decremented.
- - i ; (prefix form)
or i - - ; (postfix form)
The statement - - i; is equivalent to i = i -1; or i - = 1;

Rules for + + and - - Operators

Increment and decrement operators are unary operators and they
require single variable as their operand.
• When postfix ++ (or - -) is used with a variable in an expres-
sion, the expression is evaluated first using the original value of the
variable and then the variable is incremented
• When prefix ++ (or - -) is used in an expression, the variable
is incremented (or decremented) first and then the expression is evalu-
ated using the new value of the variable.
• The precedence and associativity of ++ and - - operators are
the same as those of unary + and -.

2.3.6 Conditional Operator

The conditional operator is also termed as ternary operator and is

denoted by (? :) . The syntax for the conditional operator is as follows:

expression1 ? expression2 : expression3

When evaluating a conditional expression, expression1 is evalu-

ated first. If expression1 is true (i.e., if its value is nonzero), then
expression2 is evaluated and this becomes the value of the expres-

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sion. However, if expression1 is false (i.e., if its value is zero) , ex-

pression3 is evaluated and this becomes the value of the condi-
tional expression. Only one of the expressions is evaluated.
For example :
a = 10;
b = 15;
x = (a > b) ? a : b ;

Here x will be assigned to the value of b. The condition follows that

the expression is false; therefore b is assigned to x.

Program4: Program to illustrate the use of conditional operator.

#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
void main( )
{
int age;
clrscr( );
printf(“Enter your age in years: ”);
scanf(“%d”,&age);
(age>=18)? printf(“\nYou can vote\n”) : printf(“You can’t vote”);
getch( );
}
Output : Enter your age in years:
26
You should vote
If we run the program again and enter age=15, then the output will be:
Enter your age in years:
15
You cannot vote

Program5: Program for finding the larger value of two given values
using conditional operator
#include<stdio.h>
void main()
{ int i,j, large;
printf (“Enter 2 integers : ”); //ask the user to input 2 numbers
scanf(“%d %d”,&i, &j);
large = i > j ? i : j; //evaluation using conditional operator
printf(“The largest of two numbers is %d \n”, large);
}

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Output : Enter 2 integers : 14 25

The largest of two numbers is 25

Program6: Conversion of centigrate to fahrenheit and vice-versa

#include<iostream.h>
void main()
{
float c, f;
printf(“Enter temperature in celcius: );
scanf(“%f”, &c);
f=1.8 * c+32;
printf(“\nEquivalent Fehrenheit will be: %f”,f);
printf(“\nEnter temperature in Fehrenheit: );
scanf(“%f”, &f);
c=(f-32)/1.8;
printf(“\nEquivalent Celsius will be: %f”,c);
}

2.3.7 Bitwise Operators

The bitwise operatos are used for testing, complementing or shifting

bits to the right or left. A bitwise operator operates on each bit of data.
Bitwise operators may not be applied to a float or double. The bitwise
operators with their meaning are listed below:

& Bitwise AND

| Bitwise OR
^ Bitwise Exclusive
<< Shift left
>> Shift right

Bitwise Logical Operators :

The logical bitwise operators are similar to the Boolean or Logical
operators, except that they operate on every bit in the operand(s).
For instance, the bitwise AND operator (&) compares each bit of the
left operand to the corresponding bit in the right hand operand. If both
bits are 1, a 1 is placed at that bit position in the result. Otherwise, a
0 is placed at that bit position.

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Bitwise AND (&) Operator :

The bitwise AND operator performs logical operations on a bit-by-bit
level using the following truth table:

Bit x of Bit x of Bit x of

operator1 of operator2 result
0 0 0
0 1 0
1 0 0
1 1 1

Truth Table for the bitwise AND (&) operator

Let us consider the following program segment for understanding

AND(&) operation.

void main( )
{ unsigned int a = 60; // a= 60 = 0011 1100
unsigned int b = 13; // b= 13 = 0000 1101
unsigned int c = 0;
c = a & b; //c= 12 = 0000 1100
printf(“%d”,c);
}
The output will be 12

Bitwise OR (|) operator :

The bitwise OR operator performs logical operations on a bit-by-bit
level using the following truth table:

Bit x of operator1 Bit x of operator2 Bit x of result

0 0 0
0 1 1
1 0 1
1 1 1
Truth Table for the bitwise OR (|) operator

The bitwise OR operator (|) places a 1 in the corresponding

value’s bit position if either operand has a bit set (i.e.,1) at the posi-
tion. Bitwise OR(|) operation can be understood with the following
example:

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void main( )
{ unsigned int a = 60; // 60 = 0011 1100
unsigned int b = 13; // 13 = 0000 1101
unsigned int c = 0;
c = a | b; // 61 = 0011 1101
}
Bitwise exclusive OR (^) :
The bitwise exclusive OR(XOR) operator performs logical operations
on a bit-by-bit level using the following truth table:

Bit x of operator1 Bit x of operator2 Bit x of result

0 0 0
0 1 1
1 0 1
1 1 0
Truth Table for the exclusive OR(^)

The bitwise exclusive OR(^) operator sets a bit in the resulting value’s
bit position if either operand (but not both) has a bit set (i.e.,1)at the
position. Bitwise exclusive OR(^) operation can be understood with
the following example:

void main( )
{ unsigned int a = 60; // 60 = 0011 1100
unsigned int b = 13; // 13 = 0000 1101
unsigned int c = 0;
c = a ^ b; // 49 = 0011 0001
}

Bitwise Complement (~)

The bitwise complement operator (~) performs logical operations on
a bit-by-bit level using the following truth table:
bit x of op2 result
0 0
0 1
Truth table for the ~, Bitwise Complement

The bitwise complement operator (~) reverses each bit in the oper-
and.

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Bitwise Shift Operators :

C provides two bitwise shift operators, bitwise left shift (<<) and bitwise
right shift (>>), for shifting bits left or right by an integral number of
positions in integral data. Both of these operators are binary, and the
left operand is the integral data whose bits are to be shifted, and the
right operand, called the shift count, specifies the number of posi-
tions by which bits need shifting. The shift count must be nonnega-
tive and less than the number of bits required to represent data of the
type of the left operand.

Left-Shift (<<) operator

The left shift operator shift bits to the left. As bits are shifted toward
high-order positions, 0 bits enter the low-order positions. Bits shifted
out through the high-order position are lost. For example, let us con-
sider the following declaration:

unsigned int Z = 5;
and Z in binary is 00000000 00000101 when 16 bits are used to
store integer values.

Now if we apply left-shift, then

Z << 1 is 00000000 00001010 or 10 decimal
and Z << 15 is 10000000 00000000 or 32768 decimal.

Left-Shift is useful when we want to MULTIPLY an integer

(not floating point numbers) by a power of 2. The operator, takes 2
operands like this:
a << b
This expression returns the value of a multiplied by 2 to the
power of b.

For example, let us consider 4 << 2. In binary, 4 is 100. Adding 2

zeros to the end gives 10000, which is 16, i.e., 4*22 = 4*4 = 16.

Similarly, 4 << 3 can be evaluated by adding 3 zeros to get 100000,

which is 4*23 = 4*8 = 32.

Shifting once to the left multiplies the number by 2.Multiple shifts of 1

to the left results in multiplying the number by 2 over and over again.
In other words, multiplying by a power of 2. Some examples are:

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5 << 3 = 5*23 = 5*8 = 40

8 << 4 = 8*24 = 8*16 = 128
1 << 2 = 1*22 = 1*4 = 4

Right-Shift (>>) operator

The right shift operator shifts bits to the right. As bits are shifted
towards low-order positions, 0 bits enter the high-order positions, if
the data is unsigned. If the data is signed and the sign bit is 0, then 0
bits also enter the high- order positions. However, if the sign bit is 1,
the bits entering high-order positions are implementation-dependent.
On some machines 1s, and on others 0s, are shifted in. The former
type of operation is known as the arithmetic right shift, and the latter
type the logical right shift. For example,
unsigned int Z = 40960;
and Z in binary 16-bit format is 10100000 00000000

Now, if we apply right-shift, then

Z >> 1 is 01010000 00000000 or 20480 decimal
and Z >> 15 is 00000000 00000001 or 1 decimal

In the second example, the 1 originally in the fourteenth bit

position has dropped off. Another right shift will drop off the 1 in the
first bit position, and Z will become zero. Bitwise Right-Shift does the
opposite, and takes away bits on the right.

2.3.8 Other Operators

There are some other useful operators supported by C lan-
guage. These are: comma operator, sizeof operator, member selec-
tion operator (. and -> ), pointer operators (* and &) etc. Here we will
discuss comma and sizeof operators. The other two will be covered
in later unit.

The Comma Operator

The comma operator can be used to link related expres-
sions together. The comma allows for the use of multiple expres-
sions to be used where normally only one would be allowed.
The comma operator forces all operations that appear to the
left to be fully completed before proceeding to the right of comma.
This helps eliminate side effects of the expression evaluation.

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Operators and Expressions Unit 2

num1 = num2 + 1, num2 = 2;

The comma ensures that num2 will not be changed to a 2 before

num2 has been added to 1 and the result placed into num1. Some
examples of comma operator are:
In for loops:
for (n=1, m=15, n <=m; n++,m++)
In while loops:
while (c=getchar(), c != ‘15’)
Exchanging values :
temp = x, x = y, y = temp;
The concept of loop will be discussed very soon in the next unit.

Program7: Swap (interchange) two numbers using a temporary

variable.
#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
void main()
{
int a,b,temp;
clrscr();
printf("\nEnter the two integer numbers:");
scanf("%d%d",&a,&b);
printf("\nEntered numbers are.:");
printf("%d%8d",a,b);
temp=a,a=b,b=temp; // comma operator is used
printf("\n\nSwapped numbers are:%d%8d",a,b);
getch();
}

Output : (Suppose we have entered 2 and 4)

Enter the two integer numbers.: 2 4
Entered numbers are: 2 4
Swapped numbers are: 4 2

The Sizeof Operator

The sizeof operator returns the physical size, in bytes of the

data item for which it is applied. It can be used with any type of data
item except bit fields.
When sizeof is used on a character field the result returned

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Operators and Expressions Unit 2

is 1 (if a character is stored in one byte). When used on an integer

the result returned is the size in bytes of that integer.
For example:
` s = sizeof (sum);
t = sizeof (long int);
The sizeof operator is normally used to determine the lengths of
arrays and structures when their sizes are not known to the pro-
grammer. It is also used to allocate memory space dynamically to
variables during the execution of the program.

For example: s = sizeof (sum);

t = sizeof (long int);
The sizeof operator is normally used to determine the lengths of
arrays and structures when their sizes are not known to the pro-
grammer. It is also used to allocate memory space dynamically to
variables during the execution of the program.

Program8: Program that employs different kinds of operators like

arithmetic, increment, conditional and sizeof operators.
#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
void main( )
{ int a, b, c, d,s;
clrscr( );
a = 20;
b = 10;
c = ++a-b;
printf (“a = %d, b = %d, c = %d\n”, a,b,c);
d=b++ + a;
printf (“a = %d, b = %d, d = %d\n, a,b,d);
printf (“a / b = %d\n, a / b);
printf (“a % b = %d\n, a % b);
printf (“a *= b = %d\n, a *= b);
printf (“%d\n, (c < d) ? 1 : 0 );
printf (“%d\n, (c > d) ? 1 : 0 );
s=sizeof(a);
printf(“\nSize is: %d bytes”,s);
}
Output : a=21 b=10 c=11
a=21 b=11 d=32
a/b=1

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Operators and Expressions Unit 2

a%b=10
a*=b=231
1
0
2 bytes
The increment operator ++ works when used in an expression. In the
statement c = ++a – b; new value a = 16 is used thus giving value 6
to C. That is a is incremented by 1 before using in expression
However in the statement d = b++ + a; the old value b = 10 is used in
the expression. Here b is incremented after it is used in the expres
sion.

EXERCISE

Q. Write a program that reads a floating-point number and then

display the right-most digit of the integral part of the number.

CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

3. Find the output of the following program segment?

(a) void main(){ int x = 50;
printf(“%d\n”,5+ x++);
printf(“%d\n”,5+ ++x); }
(b) void main(){ int x, y;
x = 50;
y =100;
printf(“%d\n”,x+ y++);
printf(“%d\n”,++y -3); }
(c) void main(){ int s1,s2;
char c='A';
float f;
s1=sizeof(c);
s2=sizeof(f);
printf("ASCII value of 'A' is %d",c);
printf("\nSize of s1 and s2 in bytes:%d%8d",s1,s2);}

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Operators and Expressions Unit 2

4. Find the output of the following C program:

void main( )
{ int a,b,c;
a=b=c=0;
printf(“Initial value of a,b,c :%d%d%d\n”,a,b,c);
a=++b + ++c;
printf(“\na=++b + ++c=%d%d%d\n”,a,b,c);
a= b++ + c++;
printf(“\na=b++ + c++= %d%d%d\n”,a,b,c);
a=++b + c++;
printf(“\na=++b + c++= %d%d%d\n”,a,b,c);
a = b- - + c - -;
printf(“\na=b-- +c --= %d%d%d\n”,a,b,c);
}

5. Choose the correct option:

(i) If i=6, and j=++i, the the value of j and i will be
(a) i=6,j=6 (b) i=6, j=7 (c)i=7,j=6 (d)i=7,j=7

(ii) If the following variables are set to the values as shown

below, then what will be the expression following it?
answer=2;
marks=10;
!((“answer<5”)&& (marks>2))
(a) 1 (b) 0 (c) -1 (d) 2

6. Write a C program to find the area of a triangle when base

and height are given.

7. What will be output of the following code?

#include<stdio.h>
void main()
{
int n;
n = 20;
printf(“\nValue of n : %d”, sizeof(n));
printf(“\nSizeof n: %d”, sizeof(n));
}

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Operators and Expressions Unit 2

2.4 PRECEDENCE AND ASSOCIATIVITY

There are two important characteristics of operators which

determine how operands group with operators. These are prece-
dence and associativity.
The operators have an order of precedence among them-
selves. This order of precedence dictates in what order the opera-
tors are evaluated when several operators are together in a state-
ment or expression. An operator’s precedence is meaningful only if
other operators with higher or lower precedence are present. Ex-
pressions with higher-precedence operators are evaluated first. The
grouping of operands can be forced by using parentheses. Also, with
each operator is an associativity factor that tells in what order the
operands associated with the operator are to be evaluated. Associa-
tivity is the left-to-right or right-to-left order for grouping operands to
operators that have the same precedence.
For example, operator precedence is why the expression
6 + 4 * 3 is calculated as 6 + (4 * 3), giving 18, and not as (6 + 4) *3,
giving 30. We say that the multiplication operator (*) has higher pre-
cedence than the addition operator (+), so the multiplication must be
performed first. Operator associativity is why the expression 8 - 4 -
2 is calculated as (8 - 4) - 2, giving 2, and and not as 8 - (4 - 2), giving
6. We say that the subtraction operator (-) is left associative, so the
left subtraction must be performed first. When we cannot decide by
operator precedence alone in which order to calculate an expres-
sion, we must use associativity.
The following table lists C operators in order of precedence
(highest to lowest). Their associativity indicates in what order opera-
tors of equal precedence in an expression are applied. R indicates
Right and L indicates Left.

Operator category Operators Associativity

Unary Operator -- ++ ! sizeof(type) R to L

Arithmetic multiply,
Divide and remainder */% L to R
Arithmetic add,subtract +- L to R
Relational Operators < <= > >= L to R
Equality Operators == != L to R
Logical AND && L to R
Logical OR || L to R
Conditional operator ?: R to L
Assignment operator = += -+ *= /+ %= R to L
Precedence and Associativity of operators

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Operators and Expressions Unit 2

In the following statements, the value 10 is assigned to both a and b

because of the right-to-left associativity of the = operator. The value
of c is assigned to b first, and then the value of b is assigned to a.
b = 9;
c = 10;
a = b = c;
In the expression
a+b*c/d
the * and / operations are performed before + because of prece-
dence. b is multiplied by c before it is divided by d because of asso-
ciativity.

2.5 EXPRESSIONS

C Expressions are based on algebra expressions - they are

very similar to what we learn in Algebra, but they are not exactly the
same. An expression is a combination of variables, constants and
operators written according to the syntax of C language. In C every
expression evaluates to a value i.e., every expression results in some
value of a certain type that can be assigned to a variable. Here are
some examples of expressions:
15 // a constant
i // a variable
i+15 // a variable plus a constant
(m + n) * (x + y)

The following program illustrates the effect of presence of parenthe-

sis in expressions.
Program9:
#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
void main( )
float a, b, c x, y, z;
a = 9;
b = 12;
c = 3;
x = a – b / 3 + c * 2 – 1;
y = a – b / (3 + c) * (2 – 1);
z = a – ( b / (3 + c) * 2) – 1;
printf (“x = %fn”,x);
printf (“y = %fn”,y);

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Operators and Expressions Unit 2

printf (“z = %fn”,z);

}
Output
x = 10.00
y = 7.00
z = 4.00
Rules for evaluation of expression

• First parenthesized sub expression left to right are evaluated.

• If parenthesis are nested, the evaluation begins with the inner

most sub expression.

• The precedence rule is applied in determining the order of appli-

cation of operators in evaluating sub expressions.
• The associability rule is applied when two or more operators of the
same precedence level appear in the sub expression.
• Arithmetic expressions are evaluated from left to right using the
rules of precedence.
• When Parenthesis are used, the expressions within parenthesis
assume highest priority.

2.6 TYPE CONVERSION

The type conversion or typecasting refers to changing an entity of
one data type into another i.e., values of one type can be converted to
a value of another type. For example, the integer 355 can be converted
to the string “355”. Again, 355 + 5 will give 400, “355” + “5” will give
“3555”.
The language C allows programmer to perform typecasting
by placing the type name in parentheses and placing this in front of
the value. The form of the cast data type is :

(type) expression
For example,
(float)25 // Gives the float 25.0
(int)5.8 // Gives the int 5
(string)5.8 // Gives the string "5.8"
(float)"4.3" // Gives the float 4.3

Let us consider the case where we want to divide two integers a/b,
where the result must be an integer. However, we may want to force
the output to be a float type in order to keep the fraction part of the

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Operators and Expressions Unit 2

division. The typecast operator is used in such a case. It will do the

conversion without any loss of fractional part of data.
Program10:
#include<stdio.h>
void main()
{
int a,b;
a=3,b=2;
printf(“\n%f”,(float)a/b);
}

The output of the above program will be 1.500000. This is because

data type cast (float) is used to force the type of the result to be of the
type float.
From the above it is clear that the usage of typecasting is to
make a variable of one type act like another type for one single opera-
tion. So by using this ability of typecasting it is possible to create
ASCII characters by typecasting integer to its character equivalent.
Typecasting is also used in arithmetic operation to get correct result.
This is very much needed in case of division when integer gets di-
vided and the remainder is omitted. In order to get correct precision
value, one can make use of typecast as shown in example above.
Another use of the typecasting is shown in the example below:
For instance:
void main()
{
int a = 5000, b = 7000 ; long int c = a * b ;
}
Here, two integers are multiplied and the result is truncated and stored
in variable c of type long int. But this would not fetch correct result for
all. To get a more desired output the code is written as
long int c = (long int) a * b;
Though typecast has so many uses one must take care about its
usage since using typecast in wrong places may cause loss of data
like, for instance, truncating a float when typecasting to an int.
Some conversions are done automatically. For example, in
the expression "Hello" + 15 the integer 15 will be automatically con-
verted to the string "15", before the two strings are concatenated,
giving the result "Hello15".

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Operators and Expressions Unit 2

CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

8. State whether the following expressions are true or false.

(i) Conditional operator (? :) has right to left associativity.
(ii) Logical OR operator has right to left associativity
(iii) C permits mixing of constants and variables of different types
in an expression.
(iv) Precedence dictates in what order the operators are evalu
ated when several operators are together in a statement or
expression.
(v) A typecast is used to force a value to be of a particular
variable type.

2.7 LET US SUM UP

Operators form expressions by joining individual constants,

variables,array elements etc. C language includes a large number of
operators which fall into different categories. In this unit we have seen
how arithmetic operators, assignment operators, unary operators,
relational and logical operators, the conditional operators are used to
form expressions.The data items on which operators act upon are
called operands. Some operators require two operands while oth-
ers require only one operand. A list of operators with their meaning
are given below:

Arithmetic Operator
Logical Operator
Operator Description Operator Description
* multiplication ! NOT
/ division && AND
% modulo division || OR
+ addition
- subtraction

Relational Operator Bitwise Operators

Operator Description Operator Description
< less than ~ One’s complement
> greater than << Left shift
>= greater than or equal >> Right shift
== equal to & Bitwise AND
!= not equal ^ Bitwise XOR

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Operators and Expressions Unit 2

Assignment Operator
The Assignment Operator(=) evaluates an expression on the right of
the expression and substitutes it to the value or variable on the left of
the expression. For example: sum = n1+n2 ;
value of n1 and n2 are added and the result is assigned to the vari-
able sum.
Increment and Decrement

There are two formsof increment and decrement operators. These

are:

Operator Description Example

++ increment a++ (post increment)
++a (pre increment)
-- decrement a-- (post decrement)
--a (pree decrement)

The Conditional Operator

It works on three values. The conditional operator is used to replace
if-else logic in some situations. It is a two-symbol operator ?: with the
format:
result = condition ? expression1 :expression2;

Comma Operator
We can use the comma operator(,) available in c language, to build a
compound expression by putting several expressions inside a set of
parentheses. The expressions are evaluated from left to right and the
final value is evaluated last.
sizeof Operator
The sizeof operator returns the physical size in bytes of the data
item for which it is applied. It can be used with any type of data item
except bit fields. The general form is: s = sizeof (item );

Expressions in C are syntactically valid combinations of operators

amd operands that compute to a value determined by the priority and
associativity of the operators.

Converting an expression of a given type into another type is known

as type-casting or type conversion. Type conversions depend on
the specified operator and the type of the operand or operators.

Computer Programming using C 28

Operators and Expressions Unit 2

2.8 FURTHER READINGS

1. Venugopal, K L and Prasad S R : Mastering C, Tata McGraw-Hill

publication.
2. Balagurusamy, E: Programming in ANSI C, Tata McGraw-Hill
publication.
3. Gottfried Byron S: Programming with C, Tata McGraw-Hill
publication.

2.9 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR

PROGRESS

1.(i) (a) x = x +10 (ii)(d) 16 (iii) (a) 327

2. (i)True (ii) True (iii) False (iv) False (v) True

3. (a) 55 (b)150
99 57
(c) ASCII value of 'A' is 65
Size of s1 and s2 in bytes: 1 4

4. Initial value of a,b,c : 0 0 0

a= ++b + ++c = 2 1 1
a= b++ + c++ = 2 2 2
a= ++b + c++ = 5 3 3
a= b-- + c -- = 6 2 2

5. (i)(d)i=7,j=7 (ii) (b) 0

6. //area of a triangle given the base and height

#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
void main()
{
float b, h;
float area;
printf(“Enter the base: ”);
scanf(“%f”, &b);
printf(“\nEnter the height:”);
scanf(“%f”, &h);

Computer Programming using C 29

Operators and Expressions Unit 2

area= b * h / 2;
printf(“\nArea of the triangle is %f”, area);
}

7. Value of n is: 20
Size of n is: 2

8. (i) True (ii)False (iii)True (iv)True (v) True

2.10 MODEL QUESTIONS

1.What is an operator ? What are the types of operators that are

included in C.
2. What is an operand ? What is the relationship between operator
and operand?
3.Describe the three logical operators included in C?
4. Write a C program to compute the surface area and volume of a
cube if the side of the cube is taken as input.
5. What is unary operator ? How many operands are associated with
a unary operator?
6. What is meant by operator precedence?
7. What is meant by associativity? What is the asslociativity of the
arithmetic operators?
8. What will be the output of the following program:
#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
void main( )
{
printf(“The size of char is %d”,sizeof(char));
printf(“\nThe size of int is %d”,sizeof(int));
printf(“\nThe size of short is %d”,sizeof(short));
printf(“\nThe size of float is %d”,sizeof(float));
printf(“\nThe size of long is %d”,sizeof(long));
printf(“\nThe size of char is %d”,sizeof(char));
printf(“The size of double is %d”,sizeof(double));
getch();
}
9. List the relational operator and their meaning.
10 . Write programs for computing the volume of a sphere, a cone

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Operators and Expressions Unit 2

and a cylinder. Assume, the dimensions are integers. Use type casting
whereever necessary.
11. If a,b,c,d and e are declared using the statement
int a, b, c, d;
What value is assigned to the variablea in the following statement
a = b > c ? c > d ? 12 : d > e ? 13 : 14 : 15 in each of the following
cases:
(i) b = 5; c = 15; d = e = 8;
(ii) b = 15; c = 10; d = e = 8;
(iii) b = 15; c = 10; d = e = 20;
(iv) b = c = 9; d = 20; e = 19;

*****

Computer Programming using C 31