operators in java

Java Operators

Operators

Now that you've learned how to declare and initialize variables, you probably want to know how to do something with them. Learning the operators of the Java programming language is a good place to start. Operators are special symbols that perform specific operations on one, two, or three operands, and then return a result.

As we explore the operators of the Java programming language, it may be helpful for you to know ahead of time which operators have the highest precedence. The operators in the following table are listed according to precedence order. The closer to the top of the table an operator appears, the higher its precedence. Operators with higher precedence are evaluated before operators with relatively lower precedence. Operators on the same line have equal precedence. When operators of equal precedence appear in the same expression, a rule must govern which is evaluated first. All binary operators except for the assignment operators are evaluated from left to right; assignment operators are evaluated right to left.

Operator Precedence

Operators	Precedence
postfix	expr++ expr--
unary	++expr --expr +expr -expr ~ !
multiplicative	* / %
additive	+ -
shift	<< >> >>>
relational	< > <= >= instanceof
equality	== !=
bitwise AND	&
bitwise exclusive OR	^
bitwise inclusive OR	|
logical AND	&&
logical OR	||
ternary	? :
assignment	= += -= *= /= %= &= ^= |= <<= >>= >>>=

The Arithmetic Operators

The Java programming language provides operators that perform addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. There's a good chance you'll recognize them by their counterparts in basic mathematics. The only symbol that might look new to you is "%", which divides one operand by another and returns the remainder as its result.

Operator	Description
+	Additive operator (also used for String concatenation)
-	Subtraction operator
*	Multiplication operator
/	Division operator
%	Remainder operator

The Unary Operators

The unary operators require only one operand; they perform various operations such as incrementing/decrementing a value by one, negating an expression, or inverting the value of a boolean.

Operator	Description
+	Unary plus operator; indicates positive value (numbers are positive without this, however)
-	Unary minus operator; negates an expression
++	Increment operator; increments a value by 1
--	Decrement operator; decrements a value by 1
!	Logical complement operator; inverts the value of a boolean

The Equality and Relational Operators

The equality and relational operators determine if one operand is greater than, less than, equal to, or not equal to another operand. The majority of these operators will probably look familiar to you as well. Keep in mind that you must use "==", not "=", when testing if two primitive values are equal.

==      equal to
!=      not equal to
>       greater than
>=      greater than or equal to
<       less than
<=      less than or equal to

The Conditional Operators

The && and || operators perform Conditional-AND and Conditional-OR operations on two boolean expressions. These operators exhibit "short-circuiting" behavior, which means that the second operand is evaluated only if needed.

&& Conditional-AND
|| Conditional-OR



The following program, ConditionalDemo1, tests these operators:

class ConditionalDemo1 {

    public static void main(String[] args){
        int value1 = 1;
        int value2 = 2;
        if((value1 == 1) && (value2 == 2))
            System.out.println("value1 is 1 AND value2 is 2");
        if((value1 == 1) || (value2 == 1))
            System.out.println("value1 is 1 OR value2 is 1");
    }
}




Another conditional operator is ?:, which can be thought of as shorthand for an if-then-else statement (discussed in the Control Flow Statements section of this lesson). This operator is also known as the ternary operator because it uses three operands. In the following example, this operator should be read as: "If someCondition is true, assign the value of value1 to result. Otherwise, assign the value of value2 to result."

The following program, ConditionalDemo2, tests the ?: operator:

class ConditionalDemo2 {

    public static void main(String[] args){
        int value1 = 1;
        int value2 = 2;
        int result;
        boolean someCondition = true;
        result = someCondition ? value1 : value2;

        System.out.println(result);
    }
}




Because someCondition is true, this program prints "1" to the screen. Use the ?: operator instead of an if-then-else statement if it makes your code more readable; for example, when the expressions are compact and without side-effects (such as assignments).

Summary of Operators

The following quick reference summarizes the operators supported by the Java programming language.

Simple Assignment Operator

=       Simple assignment operator

Arithmetic Operators

+       Additive operator (also used
        for String concatenation)
-       Subtraction operator
*       Multiplication operator
/       Division operator
%       Remainder operator

Unary Operators

+       Unary plus operator; indicates
        positive value (numbers are 
        positive without this, however)
-       Unary minus operator; negates
        an expression
++      Increment operator; increments
        a value by 1
--      Decrement operator; decrements
        a value by 1
!       Logical complement operator;
        inverts the value of a boolean

Equality and Relational Operators

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

Conditional Operators

&&      Conditional-AND
||      Conditional-OR
?:      Ternary (shorthand for 
        if-then-else statement)

Type Comparison Operator

instanceof      Compares an object to 
                a specified type 

Bitwise and Bit Shift Operators

~       Unary bitwise complement
<<      Signed left shift
>>      Signed right shift
>>>     Unsigned right shift
&       Bitwise AND
^       Bitwise exclusive OR
|       Bitwise inclusive OR