C Programming

4. BASIC SYNTAX

You have seen the basic structure of a C program, so it will be easy to

understand other basic building blocks of the C programming language.

Tokens in C
A C program consists of various tokens and a token is either a keyword, an
identifier, a constant, a string literal, or a symbol. For example, the following C
statement consists of five tokens:

printf("Hello, World! \n");

The individual tokens are:

printf
(
"Hello, World! \n"
)
;

Semicolons
In a C program, the semicolon is a statement terminator. That is, each individual
statement must be ended with a semicolon. It indicates the end of one logical
entity.
Given below are two different statements:

printf("Hello, World! \n");

return 0;

Comments
Comments are like helping text in your C program and they are ignored by the
compiler. They start with /* and terminate with the characters */ as shown
below:

/* my first program in C */

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You cannot have comments within comments and they do not occur within a
string or character literals.

Identifiers
A C identifier is a name used to identify a variable, function, or any other user-
defined item. An identifier starts with a letter A to Z, a to z, or an underscore ‘_’
followed by zero or more letters, underscores, and digits (0 to 9).
C does not allow punctuation characters such as @, $, and % within identifiers.
C is a case-sensitive programming language. Thus, Manpower and manpower
are two different identifiers in C. Here are some examples of acceptable
identifiers:

mohd zara abc move_name a_123

myname50 _temp j a23b9 retVal

Keywords
The following list shows the reserved words in C. These reserved words may not
be used as constants or variables or any other identifier names.

auto else long switch

break enum register typedef

case extern return union

char float short unsigned

const for signed void

continue goto sizeof volatile

default if static while

do int struct _Packed

double

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Whitespace in C
A line containing only whitespace, possibly with a comment, is known as a blank
line, and a C compiler totally ignores it.
Whitespace is the term used in C to describe blanks, tabs, newline characters
and comments. Whitespace separates one part of a statement from another and
enables the compiler to identify where one element in a statement, such as int,
ends and the next element begins. Therefore, in the following statement:

int age;

there must be at least one whitespace character (usually a space) between int
and age for the compiler to be able to distinguish them. On the other hand, in
the following statement:

fruit = apples + oranges; // get the total fruit

no whitespace characters are necessary between fruit and =, or between = and

apples, although you are free to include some if you wish to increase readability.

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5. DATA TYPES

Data types in C refer to an extensive system used for declaring variables or

functions of different types. The type of a variable determines how much space
it occupies in storage and how the bit pattern stored is interpreted.
The types in C can be classified as follows:

S.N. Types and Description

1 Basic Types:
They are arithmetic types and are further classified into: (a) integer
types and (b) floating-point types.

2 Enumerated types:
They are again arithmetic types and they are used to define variables
that can only assign certain discrete integer values throughout the
program.

3 The type void:

The type specifier void indicates that no value is available.

4 Derived types:
They include (a) Pointer types, (b) Array types, (c) Structure types, (d)
Union types, and (e) Function types.

The array types and structure types are referred collectively as the aggregate
types. The type of a function specifies the type of the function's return value. We
will see the basic types in the following section, whereas other types will be
covered in the upcoming chapters.

Integer Types
The following table provides the details of standard integer types with their
storage sizes and value ranges:

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Type Storage Value range

size

char 1 byte -128 to 127 or 0 to 255

unsigned 1 byte 0 to 255

char

signed char 1 byte -128 to 127

int 2 or 4 bytes -32,768 to 32,767 or -2,147,483,648 to

2,147,483,647

unsigned int 2 or 4 bytes 0 to 65,535 or 0 to 4,294,967,295

short 2 bytes -32,768 to 32,767

unsigned 2 bytes 0 to 65,535

short

long 4 bytes -2,147,483,648 to 2,147,483,647

unsigned 4 bytes 0 to 4,294,967,295

long

To get the exact size of a type or a variable on a particular platform, you can
use the sizeof operator. The expressions sizeof(type) yields the storage size of
the object or type in bytes. Given below is an example to get the size of int type
on any machine:

#include <stdio.h>
#include <limits.h>

int main()
{
printf("Storage size for int : %d \n", sizeof(int));

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return 0;
}

When you compile and execute the above program, it produces the following
result on Linux:

Storage size for int : 4

Floating-Point Types
The following table provides the details of standard floating-point types with
storage sizes and value ranges and their precision:

Type Storage size Value range Precision

float 4 byte 1.2E-38 to 3.4E+38 6 decimal places

double 8 byte 2.3E-308 to 1.7E+308 15 decimal places

long double 10 byte 3.4E-4932 to 1.1E+4932 19 decimal places

The header file float.h defines macros that allow you to use these values and
other details about the binary representation of real numbers in your programs.
The following example prints the storage space taken by a float type and its
range values:

#include <stdio.h>
#include <float.h>

int main()
{
printf("Storage size for float : %d \n", sizeof(float));
printf("Minimum float positive value: %E\n", FLT_MIN );
printf("Maximum float positive value: %E\n", FLT_MAX );
printf("Precision value: %d\n", FLT_DIG );

return 0;

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When you compile and execute the above program, it produces the following
result on Linux:

Storage size for float : 4

Minimum float positive value: 1.175494E-38
Maximum float positive value: 3.402823E+38
Precision value: 6

The void Type

The void type specifies that no value is available. It is used in three kinds of
situations:

S.N. Types and Description

1 Function returns as void

There are various functions in C which do not return any value or you
can say they return void. A function with no return value has the return
type as void. For example, void exit (int status);

2 Function arguments as void

There are various functions in C which do not accept any parameter. A
function with no parameter can accept a void. For example, int
rand(void);

3 Pointers to void
A pointer of type void * represents the address of an object, but not its
type. For example, a memory allocation function void *malloc(size_t
size); returns a pointer to void which can be casted to any data type.

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6. VARIABLES

A variable is nothing but a name given to a storage area that our programs can
manipulate. Each variable in C has a specific type, which determines the size
and layout of the variable's memory; the range of values that can be stored
within that memory; and the set of operations that can be applied to the
variable.
The name of a variable can be composed of letters, digits, and the underscore
character. It must begin with either a letter or an underscore. Upper and
lowercase letters are distinct because C is case-sensitive. Based on the basic
types explained in the previous chapter, there will be the following basic variable
types:

Type Description

char Typically a single octet (one byte). This is an integer type.

int The most natural size of integer for the machine.

float A single-precision floating point value.

double A double-precision floating point value.

void Represents the absence of type.

C programming language also allows to define various other types of variables,

which we will cover in subsequent chapters like Enumeration, Pointer, Array,
Structure, Union, etc. For this chapter, let us study only basic variable types.

Variable Definition in C
A variable definition tells the compiler where and how much storage to create for
the variable. A variable definition specifies a data type and contains a list of one
or more variables of that type as follows:

type variable_list;

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Here, type must be a valid C data type including char, w_char, int, float, double,
bool, or any user-defined object; and variable_list may consist of one or more
identifier names separated by commas. Some valid declarations are shown here:

int i, j, k;
char c, ch;
float f, salary;
double d;

The line int i, j, k; declares and defines the variables i, j and k; which instruct
the compiler to create variables named i, j, and k of type int.
Variables can be initialized (assigned an initial value) in their declaration. The
initializer consists of an equal sign followed by a constant expression as follows:

type variable_name = value;

Some examples are:

extern int d = 3, f = 5; // declaration of d and f.

int d = 3, f = 5; // definition and initializing d and f.
byte z = 22; // definition and initializes z.
char x = 'x'; // the variable x has the value 'x'.

For definition without an initializer: variables with static storage duration are
implicitly initialized with NULL (all bytes have the value 0); the initial value of all
other variables are undefined.

Variable Declaration in C
A variable declaration provides assurance to the compiler that there exists a
variable with the given type and name so that the compiler can proceed for
further compilation without requiring the complete detail about the variable. A
variable declaration has its meaning at the time of compilation only, the
compiler needs actual variable declaration at the time of linking the program.
A variable declaration is useful when you are using multiple files and you define
your variable in one of the files which will be available at the time of linking the
program. You will use the keyword extern to declare a variable at any place.
Though you can declare a variable multiple times in your C program, it can be
defined only once in a file, a function, or a block of code.

Example
Try the following example, where variables have been declared at the top, but
they have been defined and initialized inside the main function:

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#include <stdio.h>

// Variable declaration:
extern int a, b;
extern int c;
extern float f;

int main ()
{
/* variable definition: */
int a, b;
int c;
float f;

/* actual initialization */
a = 10;
b = 20;

c = a + b;
printf("value of c : %d \n", c);

f = 70.0/3.0;
printf("value of f : %f \n", f);

return 0;
}

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

value of c : 30
value of f : 23.333334

The same concept applies on function declaration where you provide a function
name at the time of its declaration and its actual definition can be given
anywhere else. For example:

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// function declaration
int func();

int main()
{
// function call
int i = func();
}

// function definition
int func()
{
return 0;
}

Lvalues and Rvalues in C

There are two kinds of expressions in C:
 lvalue : Expressions that refer to a memory location are called "lvalue"
expressions. An lvalue may appear as either the left-hand or right-hand
side of an assignment.
 rvalue : The term rvalue refers to a data value that is stored at some
address in memory. An rvalue is an expression that cannot have a value
assigned to it which means an rvalue may appear on the right-hand side
but not on the left-hand side of an assignment.
Variables are lvalues and so they may appear on the left-hand side of an
assignment. Numeric literals are rvalues and so they may not be assigned and
cannot appear on the left-hand side. Take a look at the following valid and
invalid statements:

int g = 20; // valid statement

10 = 20; // invalid statement; would generate compile-time error

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7. CONSTANTS AND LITERALS

Constants refer to fixed values that the program may not alter during its
execution. These fixed values are also called literals.
Constants can be of any of the basic data types like an integer constant, a
floating constant, a character constant, or a string literal. There are enumeration
constants as well.
Constants are treated just like regular variables except that their values cannot
be modified after their definition.

Integer Literals
An integer literal can be a decimal, octal, or hexadecimal constant. A prefix
specifies the base or radix: 0x or 0X for hexadecimal, 0 for octal, and nothing for
decimal.
An integer literal can also have a suffix that is a combination of U and L, for
unsigned and long, respectively. The suffix can be uppercase or lowercase and
can be in any order.
Here are some examples of integer literals:

212 /* Legal */
215u /* Legal */
0xFeeL /* Legal */
078 /* Illegal: 8 is not an octal digit */
032UU /* Illegal: cannot repeat a suffix */

Following are other examples of various types of integer literals:

85 /* decimal */
0213 /* octal */
0x4b /* hexadecimal */
30 /* int */
30u /* unsigned int */
30l /* long */
30ul /* unsigned long */

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Floating-point Literals
A floating-point literal has an integer part, a decimal point, a fractional part, and
an exponent part. You can represent floating point literals either in decimal form
or exponential form.
While representing decimal form, you must include the decimal point, the
exponent, or both; and while representing exponential form, you must include
the integer part, the fractional part, or both. The signed exponent is introduced
by e or E.
Here are some examples of floating-point literals:

3.14159 /* Legal */
314159E-5L /* Legal */
510E /* Illegal: incomplete exponent */
210f /* Illegal: no decimal or exponent */
.e55 /* Illegal: missing integer or fraction */

Character Constants
Character literals are enclosed in single quotes, e.g., 'x' can be stored in a
simple variable of char type.
A character literal can be a plain character (e.g., 'x'), an escape sequence (e.g.,
'\t'), or a universal character (e.g., '\u02C0').
There are certain characters in C that represent special meaning when preceded
by a backslash, for example, newline (\n) or tab (\t). Here, you have a list of
such escape sequence codes:

Escape Meaning
sequence

\\ \ character

\' ' character

\" " character

\? ? character

\a Alert or bell

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\b Backspace

\f Form feed

\n Newline

\r Carriage return

\t Horizontal tab

\v Vertical tab

\ooo Octal number of one to three digits

\xhh . . . Hexadecimal number of one or more digits

Following is the example to show a few escape sequence characters:

#include <stdio.h>

int main()
{
printf("Hello\tWorld\n\n");

return 0;
}

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

Hello World

String Literals
String literals or constants are enclosed in double quotes "". A string contains
characters that are similar to character literals: plain characters, escape
sequences, and universal characters.

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You can break a long line into multiple lines using string literals and separating
them using whitespaces.
Here are some examples of string literals. All the three forms are identical
strings.

"hello, dear"

"hello, \

dear"

"hello, " "d" "ear"

Defining Constants
There are two simple ways in C to define constants:
 Using #define preprocessor
 Using const keyword

The #define Preprocessor

Given below is the form to use #define preprocessor to define a constant:

#define identifier value

The following example explains it in detail:

#include <stdio.h>

#define LENGTH 10
#define WIDTH 5
#define NEWLINE '\n'

int main()
{

int area;

area = LENGTH * WIDTH;

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printf("value of area : %d", area);

printf("%c", NEWLINE);

return 0;
}

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

value of area : 50

The const Keyword

You can use const prefix to declare constants with a specific type as follows:

const type variable = value;

The following example explains it in detail:

#include <stdio.h>

int main()
{
const int LENGTH = 10;
const int WIDTH = 5;
const char NEWLINE = '\n';
int area;

area = LENGTH * WIDTH;

printf("value of area : %d", area);
printf("%c", NEWLINE);

return 0;
}

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

value of area : 50

Note that it is a good programming practice to define constants in CAPITALS.

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8. STORAGE CLASSES

A storage class defines the scope (visibility) and life-time of variables and/or
functions within a C Program. They precede the type that they modify. We have
four different storage classes in a C program:
 auto
 register
 static
 extern

The auto Storage Class

The auto storage class is the default storage class for all local variables.

{
int mount;
auto int month;
}

The example above defines two variables within the same storage class. ‘auto’
can only be used within functions, i.e., local variables.

The register Storage Class

The register storage class is used to define local variables that should be stored
in a register instead of RAM. This means that the variable has a maximum size
equal to the register size (usually one word) and can't have the unary '&'
operator applied to it (as it does not have a memory location).

{
register int miles;
}

The register should only be used for variables that require quick access such as
counters. It should also be noted that defining 'register' does not mean that the
variable will be stored in a register. It means that it MIGHT be stored in a
register depending on hardware and implementation restrictions.

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The static Storage Class

The static storage class instructs the compiler to keep a local variable in
existence during the life-time of the program instead of creating and destroying
it each time it comes into and goes out of scope. Therefore, making local
variables static allows them to maintain their values between function calls.
The static modifier may also be applied to global variables. When this is done, it
causes that variable's scope to be restricted to the file in which it is declared.
In C programming, when static is used on a class data member, it causes only
one copy of that member to be shared by all the objects of its class.

#include <stdio.h>

/* function declaration */
void func(void);

static int count = 5; /* global variable */

main()
{
while(count--)
{
func();
}
return 0;
}
/* function definition */
void func( void )
{
static int i = 5; /* local static variable */
i++;
printf("i is %d and count is %d\n", i, count);
}

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

i is 6 and count is 4
i is 7 and count is 3

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i is 8 and count is 2
i is 9 and count is 1
i is 10 and count is 0

The extern Storage Class

The extern storage class is used to give a reference of a global variable that is
visible to ALL the program files. When you use 'extern', the variable cannot be
initialized, however, it points the variable name at a storage location that has
been previously defined.
When you have multiple files and you define a global variable or function, which
will also be used in other files, then extern will be used in another file to provide
the reference of defined variable or function. Just for understanding, extern is
used to declare a global variable or function in another file.
The extern modifier is most commonly used when there are two or more files
sharing the same global variables or functions as explained below.

First File: main.c

#include <stdio.h>

int count;
extern void write_extern();

main()
{
count = 5;
write_extern();
}

Second File: support.c

#include <stdio.h>

extern int count;

void write_extern(void)
{

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printf("count is %d\n", count);

}

Here, extern is being used to declare count in the second file, whereas it has its
definition in the first file, main.c. Now, compile these two files as follows:

$gcc main.c support.c

It will produce the executable program a.out. When this program is executed, it
produces the following result:

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9. OPERATORS

An operator is a symbol that tells the compiler to perform specific mathematical

or logical functions. C language is rich in built-in operators and provides the
following types of operators:
 Arithmetic Operators
 Relational Operators
 Logical Operators
 Bitwise Operators
 Assignment Operators
 Misc Operators
We will, in this chapter, look into the way each operator works.

Arithmetic Operators
The following table shows all the arithmetic operators supported by the C
language. Assume variable A holds 10 and variable B holds 20, then:

Operator Description Example

+ Adds two operands. A + B = 30

- Subtracts second operand from the first. A - B = -10

* Multiplies both operands. A * B = 200

/ Divides numerator by de-numerator. B/A=2

% Modulus Operator and remainder of after an B%A=0

integer division.

++ Increment operator increases the integer value A++ = 11

by one.

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-- Decrement operator decreases the integer A-- = 9

value by one.

Example
Try the following example to understand all the arithmetic operators available in
C:

#include <stdio.h>

main()
{
int a = 21;
int b = 10;
int c ;

c = a + b;
printf("Line 1 - Value of c is %d\n", c );
c = a - b;
printf("Line 2 - Value of c is %d\n", c );
c = a * b;
printf("Line 3 - Value of c is %d\n", c );
c = a / b;
printf("Line 4 - Value of c is %d\n", c );
c = a % b;
printf("Line 5 - Value of c is %d\n", c );
c = a++;
printf("Line 6 - Value of c is %d\n", c );
c = a--;
printf("Line 7 - Value of c is %d\n", c );

When you compile and execute the above program, it produces the following
result:

Line 1 - Value of c is 31

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Line 2 - Value of c is 11
Line 3 - Value of c is 210
Line 4 - Value of c is 2
Line 5 - Value of c is 1
Line 6 - Value of c is 21
Line 7 - Value of c is 22

Relational Operators
The following table shows all the relational operators supported by C. Assume
variable A holds 10 and variable B holds 20, then:

Operator Description Example

== Checks if the values of two operands are equal (A == B) is not

or not. If yes, then the condition becomes true.
true.

!= Checks if the values of two operands are equal (A != B) is true.

or not. If the values are not equal, then the
condition becomes true.

> Checks if the value of left operand is greater (A > B) is not

than the value of right operand. If yes, then true.
the condition becomes true.

< Checks if the value of left operand is less than (A < B) is true.
the value of right operand. If yes, then the
condition becomes true.

>= Checks if the value of left operand is greater (A >= B) is not

than or equal to the value of right operand. If true.
yes, then the condition becomes true.

<= Checks if the value of left operand is less than (A <= B) is true.
or equal to the value of right operand. If yes,
then the condition becomes true.

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Example
Try the following example to understand all the relational operators available in
C:

#include <stdio.h>

main()
{
int a = 21;
int b = 10;
int c ;

if( a == b )
{
printf("Line 1 - a is equal to b\n" );
}
else
{
printf("Line 1 - a is not equal to b\n" );
}
if ( a < b )
{
printf("Line 2 - a is less than b\n" );
}
else
{
printf("Line 2 - a is not less than b\n" );
}
if ( a > b )
{
printf("Line 3 - a is greater than b\n" );
}
else
{

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printf("Line 3 - a is not greater than b\n" );

}
/* Lets change value of a and b */
a = 5;
b = 20;
if ( a <= b )
{
printf("Line 4 - a is either less than or equal to b\n" );
}
if ( b >= a )
{
printf("Line 5 - b is either greater than or equal to b\n" );
}
}

When you compile and execute the above program, it produces the following
result:

Line 1 - a is not equal to b

Line 2 - a is not less than b
Line 3 - a is greater than b
Line 4 - a is either less than or equal to b
Line 5 - b is either greater than or equal to b

Logical Operators
Following table shows all the logical operators supported by C language. Assume
variable A holds 1 and variable B holds 0, then:

Operator Description Example

&& Called Logical AND operator. If both the (A && B) is

operands are non-zero, then the condition false.
becomes true.

|| Called Logical OR Operator. If any of the two (A || B) is true.

operands is non-zero, then the condition

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becomes true.

! Called Logical NOT Operator. It is used to !(A && B) is

reverse the logical state of its operand. If a true.
condition is true, then Logical NOT operator will
make it false.

Example
Try the following example to understand all the logical operators available in C:

#include <stdio.h>

main()
{
int a = 5;
int b = 20;
int c ;

if ( a && b )
{
printf("Line 1 - Condition is true\n" );
}
if ( a || b )
{
printf("Line 2 - Condition is true\n" );
}
/* lets change the value of a and b */
a = 0;
b = 10;
if ( a && b )
{
printf("Line 3 - Condition is true\n" );
}
else

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{
printf("Line 3 - Condition is not true\n" );
}
if ( !(a && b) )
{
printf("Line 4 - Condition is true\n" );
}
}

When you compile and execute the above program, it produces the following
result:

Line 1 - Condition is true

Line 2 - Condition is true
Line 3 - Condition is not true
Line 4 - Condition is true

Bitwise Operators
Bitwise operators work on bits and perform bit-by-bit operation. The truth table
for &, |, and ^ is as follows:

p q p&q p|q p^q

0 0 0 0 0

0 1 0 1 1

1 1 1 1 0

1 0 0 1 1

Assume A = 60 and B = 13; in binary format, they will be as follows:

A = 0011 1100
B = 0000 1101
-----------------

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A&B = 0000 1100

A|B = 0011 1101
A^B = 0011 0001
~A = 1100 0011
The following table lists the bitwise operators supported by C. Assume variable
‘A’ holds 60 and variable ‘B’ holds 13, then:

Operator Description Example

& Binary AND Operator copies a bit to the result (A & B) = 12, i.e.,
if it exists in both operands. 0000 1100

| Binary OR Operator copies a bit if it exists in (A | B) = 61, i.e.,

either operand. 0011 1101

^ Binary XOR Operator copies the bit if it is set (A ^ B) = 49, i.e.,

in one operand but not both. 0011 0001

~ Binary Ones Complement Operator is unary (~A ) = -61, i.e.,

and has the effect of 'flipping' bits. 1100 0011 in 2's
complement form.

<< Binary Left Shift Operator. The left operands A << 2 = 240,
value is moved left by the number of bits i.e., 1111 0000
specified by the right operand.

>> Binary Right Shift Operator. The left operands A >> 2 = 15, i.e.,
value is moved right by the number of bits 0000 1111
specified by the right operand.

Example
Try the following example to understand all the bitwise operators available in C:

#include <stdio.h>

main()
{

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unsigned int a = 60; /* 60 = 0011 1100 */

unsigned int b = 13; /* 13 = 0000 1101 */
int c = 0;

c = a & b; /* 12 = 0000 1100 */

printf("Line 1 - Value of c is %d\n", c );

c = a | b; /* 61 = 0011 1101 */
printf("Line 2 - Value of c is %d\n", c );

c = a ^ b; /* 49 = 0011 0001 */
printf("Line 3 - Value of c is %d\n", c );

c = ~a; /*-61 = 1100 0011 */

printf("Line 4 - Value of c is %d\n", c );

c = a << 2; /* 240 = 1111 0000 */

printf("Line 5 - Value of c is %d\n", c );

c = a >> 2; /* 15 = 0000 1111 */

printf("Line 6 - Value of c is %d\n", c );
}

When you compile and execute the above program, it produces the following
result:

Line 1 - Value of c is 12
Line 2 - Value of c is 61
Line 3 - Value of c is 49
Line 4 - Value of c is -61
Line 5 - Value of c is 240
Line 6 - Value of c is 15

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Assignment Operators
The following tables lists the assignment operators supported by the C language:

Operator Description Example

= Simple assignment operator. Assigns C = A + B will assign

values from right side operands to left the value of A + B to
side operand. C

+= Add AND assignment operator. It adds the C += A is equivalent

right operand to the left operand and to C = C + A
assigns the result to the left operand.

-= Subtract AND assignment operator. It C -= A is equivalent

subtracts the right operand from the left to C = C - A
operand and assigns the result to the left
operand.

*= Multiply AND assignment operator. It C *= A is equivalent

multiplies the right operand with the left to C = C * A
operand and assigns the result to the left
operand.

/= Divide AND assignment operator. It C /= A is equivalent

divides the left operand with the right to C = C / A
operand and assigns the result to the left
operand.

%= Modulus AND assignment operator. It C %= A is equivalent

takes modulus using two operands and to C = C % A
assigns the result to the left operand.

<<= Left shift AND assignment operator. C <<= 2 is same as C

= C << 2

>>= Right shift AND assignment operator. C >>= 2 is same as C

= C >> 2

&= Bitwise AND assignment operator. C &= 2 is same as C

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=C&2

^= Bitwise exclusive OR and assignment C ^= 2 is same as C

operator. =C^2

|= Bitwise inclusive OR and assignment C |= 2 is same as C =

operator. C|2

Example
Try the following example to understand all the assignment operators available
in C:

#include <stdio.h>

main()
{
int a = 21;
int c ;

c = a;
printf("Line 1 - = Operator Example, Value of c = %d\n", c );

c += a;
printf("Line 2 - += Operator Example, Value of c = %d\n", c );

c -= a;
printf("Line 3 - -= Operator Example, Value of c = %d\n", c );

c *= a;
printf("Line 4 - *= Operator Example, Value of c = %d\n", c );

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c /= a;
printf("Line 5 - /= Operator Example, Value of c = %d\n", c );

c = 200;
c %= a;
printf("Line 6 - %= Operator Example, Value of c = %d\n", c );

c <<= 2;
printf("Line 7 - <<= Operator Example, Value of c = %d\n", c );

c >>= 2;
printf("Line 8 - >>= Operator Example, Value of c = %d\n", c );

c &= 2;
printf("Line 9 - &= Operator Example, Value of c = %d\n", c );

c ^= 2;
printf("Line 10 - ^= Operator Example, Value of c = %d\n", c );

c |= 2;
printf("Line 11 - |= Operator Example, Value of c = %d\n", c );

When you compile and execute the above program, it produces the following
result:

Line 1 - = Operator Example, Value of c = 21

Line 2 - += Operator Example, Value of c = 42
Line 3 - -= Operator Example, Value of c = 21
Line 4 - *= Operator Example, Value of c = 441
Line 5 - /= Operator Example, Value of c = 21
Line 6 - %= Operator Example, Value of c = 11
Line 7 - <<= Operator Example, Value of c = 44
Line 8 - >>= Operator Example, Value of c = 11

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Line 9 - &= Operator Example, Value of c = 2

Line 10 - ^= Operator Example, Value of c = 0
Line 11 - |= Operator Example, Value of c = 2

Misc Operators ↦ sizeof & ternary

Besides the operators discussed above, there are a few other important
operators including sizeof and ? : supported by the C Language.

Operator Description Example

sizeof() Returns the size of a variable. sizeof(a), where a is

integer, will return 4.

& Returns the address of a variable. &a; returns the actual

address of the
variable.

* Pointer to a variable. *a;

?: Conditional Expression. If Condition is true ?

then value X :
otherwise value Y

Example
Try following example to understand all the miscellaneous operators available in
C:

#include <stdio.h>

main()
{
int a = 4;
short b;
double c;
int* ptr;

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/* example of sizeof operator */

printf("Line 1 - Size of variable a = %d\n", sizeof(a) );
printf("Line 2 - Size of variable b = %d\n", sizeof(b) );
printf("Line 3 - Size of variable c= %d\n", sizeof(c) );

/* example of & and * operators */

ptr = &a; /* 'ptr' now contains the address of 'a'*/
printf("value of a is %d\n", a);
printf("*ptr is %d.\n", *ptr);

/* example of ternary operator */

a = 10;
b = (a == 1) ? 20: 30;
printf( "Value of b is %d\n", b );

b = (a == 10) ? 20: 30;

printf( "Value of b is %d\n", b );
}

When you compile and execute the above program, it produces the following
result:

value of a is 4
*ptr is 4.
Value of b is 30
Value of b is 20

Operators Precedence in C
Operator precedence determines the grouping of terms in an expression and
decides how an expression is evaluated. Certain operators have higher
precedence than others; for example, the multiplication operator has a higher
precedence than the addition operator.
For example, x = 7 + 3 * 2; here, x is assigned 13, not 20 because operator *
has a higher precedence than +, so it first gets multiplied with 3*2 and then
adds into 7.

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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 will be evaluated first.

Category Operator Associativity

Postfix () [] -> . ++ - - Left to right

Unary + - ! ~ ++ - - (type)* & sizeof Right to left

Multiplicative */% Left to right

Additive +- Left to right

Shift << >> Left to right

Relational < <= > >= Left to right

Equality == != Left to right

Bitwise AND & Left to right

Bitwise XOR ^ Left to right

Bitwise OR | Left to right

Logical AND && Left to right

Logical OR || Left to right

Conditional ?: Right to left

Assignment = += -= *= /= %=>>= <<= &= ^= |= Right to left

Comma , Left to right

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Example
Try the following example to understand operator precedence in C:

#include <stdio.h>

main()
{
int a = 20;
int b = 10;
int c = 15;
int d = 5;
int e;

e = (a + b) * c / d; // ( 30 * 15 ) / 5
printf("Value of (a + b) * c / d is : %d\n", e );

e = ((a + b) * c) / d; // (30 * 15 ) / 5
printf("Value of ((a + b) * c) / d is : %d\n" , e );

e = (a + b) * (c / d); // (30) * (15/5)

printf("Value of (a + b) * (c / d) is : %d\n", e );

e = a + (b * c) / d; // 20 + (150/5)
printf("Value of a + (b * c) / d is : %d\n" , e );

return 0;
}

When you compile and execute the above program, it produces the following
result:

Value of (a + b) * c / d is : 90
Value of ((a + b) * c) / d is : 90
Value of (a + b) * (c / d) is : 90
Value of a + (b * c) / d is : 50

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