C# - Operators

---

---

An operator is a symbol that tells the compiler to perform specific mathematical or logical manipulations. C# has rich set of built-in operators and provides the following type of operators −

• Arithmetic Operators
• Relational Operators
• Logical Operators
• Bitwise Operators
• Assignment Operators
• Misc Operators

This tutorial explains the arithmetic, relational, logical, bitwise, assignment, and other operators one by one.

Arithmetic Operators

C# arithmetic operators perform mathematical operations such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and modulus between numeric data types. These operators are binary operators, which need two operands to perform the operations.

Following table shows all the arithmetic operators supported by C#. Assume variable A holds 10 and variable B holds 20 then −

Example

In the following example, we are demonstrating arithmetic operations on integers.

using System;

class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        int x = 10, y = 4;
        Console.WriteLine("Addition: " + (x + y));
        Console.WriteLine("Multiplication: " + (x * y));
        Console.WriteLine("Modulo: " + (x % y)); 
    }
}

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result −

Addition: 14
Multiplication: 40
Modulo: 2

Relational Operators

C# relational operators compare two operands and return either true or false. These operators are useful for decision-making.

Following table shows all the relational operators supported by C#. Assume variable A holds 10 and variable B holds 20, then −

Example

In the following example, we are comparing two integers using relational operators.

using System;

class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        int a = 20, b = 15;
        Console.WriteLine("Is a > b? " + (a > b));
        Console.WriteLine("Is a == b? " + (a == b));
    }
}

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result −

Is a > b? True
Is a == b? False

Logical Operators

C# logical operators combine Boolean expressions. These operators are useful when you have multiple conditions and want to combine and check them. The result of these operators is either true or false; i.e., these operators return only Boolean values.

Following table shows all the logical operators supported by C#. Assume variable A holds Boolean value true and variable B holds Boolean value false, then −

Example

In the following example, we are comparing two boolean values using logical operators.

using System;

class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        bool x = true, y = false;
        Console.WriteLine("AND (&&) : " + (x && y));
        Console.WriteLine("OR (||)  : " + (x || y));
        Console.WriteLine("NOT (!)  : " + (!x));
    }
}

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result −

AND (&&) : False
OR (||)  : True
NOT (!)  : False

Bitwise Operators

Bitwise operator works on bits and perform bit by bit operation. The truth tables for &, |, and ^ are as follows −

Assume if A = 60; and B = 13; then in the binary format they are as follows −

A = 0011 1100

B = 0000 1101

-------------------

A&B = 0000 1100

A|B = 0011 1101

A^B = 0011 0001

~A  = 1100 0011

The Bitwise operators supported by C# are listed in the following table. Assume variable A holds 60 and variable B holds 13, then −

Example

In the following example, we are performing bitwise AND and OR operations on two integers.

using System;

class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        int a = 5, b = 3;
        Console.WriteLine("Bitwise AND: " + (a & b)); 
        Console.WriteLine("Bitwise OR: " + (a | b));  
    }
}

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result −

Bitwise AND: 1
Bitwise OR: 7

Assignment Operators

C# assignment operators assign values to variables and also perform arithmetic operations in some of the cases.

There are following assignment operators supported by C# −

Example

In the following example, we are using the += operator to increment a number.

using System;

class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        int num = 10;
        num += 5;  // Equivalent to num = num + 5
        Console.WriteLine(num);
    }
}

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result −

15

Ternary Operator

C# ternary operator requires three operands and performs a conditional check; it is a shortcut for if-else statements.

Example

In the following example, we are using the ternary operator to check voting eligibility.

using System;

class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        int age = 18;
        string result = (age >= 18) ? "Eligible to vote" : "Not eligible";
        Console.WriteLine(result);
    }
}

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result −

Eligible to vote

Miscellaneous Operators

C# miscellaneous operators are special operators that don't come under arithmetic, logical, relational, or bitwise categories. These operators are basically used for type checking, null handling, and memory referencing.

There are few other important operators including sizeof, typeof and ? : supported by C#.

Example

In the following example, we are using various miscellaneous operators in C#.

using System;

class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        // typeof operator
        Console.WriteLine("Type of int: " + typeof(int));
        
        // sizeof operator
        Console.WriteLine("Size of int: " + sizeof(int));
        
        // is operator
        object obj = "Hello";
        Console.WriteLine("Is obj a string? " + (obj is string));
        
        // as operator
        object number = 42;
        string str = number as string;
        Console.WriteLine("Using 'as' operator: " + (str ?? "Conversion failed"));
        
        // nameof operator
        string variableName = nameof(number);
        Console.WriteLine("Variable name: " + variableName);
    }
}

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result −

Type of int: System.Int32
Size of int: 4
Is obj a string? True
Using 'as' operator: Conversion failed
Variable name: number

Operator Precedence in C#

Operator precedence determines the grouping of terms in an expression. This affects evaluation of an expression. Certain operators have higher precedence than others; for example, the multiplication operator has higher precedence than the addition operator.

For example x = 7 + 3 * 2; here, x is assigned 13, not 20 because operator * has higher precedence than +, so the first evaluation takes place for 3*2 and then 7 is added into it.

Here, operators with the highest precedence appear at the top of the table, those with the lowest appear at the bottom. Within an expression, higher precedence operators are evaluated first.

Example

This example demonstrates how an expression (containing multiple operators) evaluates the operators based on the operators precedence:

using System;
namespace OperatorsAppl {
   class Program {
      static void Main(string[] args) {
         int a = 20;
         int b = 10;
         int c = 15;
         int d = 5;
         int e;
         e = (a + b) * c / d;     // ( 30 * 15 ) / 5
         Console.WriteLine("Value of (a + b) * c / d is : {0}", e);

         e = ((a + b) * c) / d;   // (30 * 15 ) / 5
         Console.WriteLine("Value of ((a + b) * c) / d is  : {0}", e);

         e = (a + b) * (c / d);   // (30) * (15/5) {0}", e);

         e = a + (b * c) / d;    //  20 + (150/5) {0}", e);
         Console.ReadLine();
      }
   }
}

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result −

Value of (a + b) * c / d is : 90
Value of ((a + b) * c) / d is  : 90