Operators in java

Let’s learn operators in java.

Operators in java

Operator is a symbol used to perform operations on variables. Here are types of operators,

Arithmetic operators

Arithmetic operator is used in mathematical expressions to perform division, addition, subtraction and multiplication.

public class ArithmeticOperatorDemo
{
   public static void main(String[] args)
   {
      int i = 25;
      int j = 5;
      System.out.println(i + j);
      System.out.println(i - j);
      System.out.println(i * j);
      System.out.println(i / j);
      System.out.println(i % j);
   }
}

Output:

30
20
125
5
0


Unary operator in java

Unary operator needs only one operand. Here are various unary operators.

  • Unary minus (-)
  • NOT Operator (!)
  • Increment (++)
  • Decrement (- -)
  • Bitwise complement (~)

Here’s an example on ‘NOT’ (!) operator.

public class JavaUnaryOperator
{
   public static void main(String[] args)
   {
      boolean bool = true;
      int a = 14, b = 5;
      System.out.println("Before using NOT operator(!): " + bool);
      System.out.println("a = " + a);
      System.out.println("b = " + b);
      System.out.println("After using using NOT operator(!): " + !bool);
      System.out.println("!(a < b) = " + !(a < b));
      System.out.println("!(a > b) = " + !(a > b));
   }
}

Output:

Before using NOT operator(!): true
a = 14
b = 5
After using using NOT operator(!): false
!(a < b) = true !(a > b) = false


Here’s an example on unary minus operator(-).

public class JavaUnaryOperator
{
   public static void main(String[] args)
   {
      int a = 5;
      System.out.println("Given number : " + a);
      a = -a;
      System.out.println("After using unary minus operator(-) : " + a);
   }
}

Output:

Given number : 5
After using unary minus operator(-) : -5


Let’s see an example on unary increment (++) operator.

public class JavaUnaryOperator
{
   public static void main(String[] args)
   {
      int a = 7;
      System.out.println("post-increment = " + a++);
      System.out.println("pre-increment = " + ++a);
   }
}

Output:

post-increment = 7
pre-increment = 9


Let’s see an example on unary decrement (- -) operator.

public class JavaUnaryOperator
{
   public static void main(String[] args)
   {
      int a = 7;
      System.out.println("post-decrement = " + a--);
      System.out.println("a = " + a);
      System.out.println("pre-decrement = " + --a);
   }
}

Output:

post-decrement = 7
a = 6
pre-decrement = 5


Ternary operator in java

Ternary operator in java is an alternative to assigning one of two values to variable depending on given condition. Ternary operator is shorthand for if-else statement.

For example:

int studentAge = 20;

boolean isEighteenOver = studentAge == 20 ? true : false;

In the above statement; operand one – studentAge == 20 in this case is the condition we are checking. It needs to return true or false. Meanwhile operand two – true here is the value to assign to the variable isEighteenOver if the condition above is true.

Finally operand three – false here is the value to assign to the variable isEighteenOver if the condition above was false.

In this case, isEighteenOver is assigned the value true because studentAge has the value 20 and our condition for operand one studentAge is equal to 20 returns true.

Let’s see ternary operator in java example.

public class TernaryOperatorDemo
{
   public static void main(String[] args)
   {
      int a = 50, b = 500, bigger;
      System.out.println("First number: " + a);
      System.out.println("Second number: " + b);
      bigger = (a > b) ? a : b;
      System.out.println("Bigger number is = " + bigger);
   }
}

Output:

First number: 50
Second number: 500
Bigger number is = 500


Let’s see another example on ternary operator in java.

public class TernaryOperatorDemo
{
   public static void main(String[] args) 
   {
      int a = 50, b = 700, output;
      System.out.println("First number: " + a);
      System.out.println("Second number: " + b); 
      output = (a > b) ? (a + b) : (a - b);
      System.out.println("Output is = " + output);
   }
}

Output:

First number: 50
Second number: 700
Output is = -650


Operator precedence in java:

OperatorTypeAssociativity
++
Unary post-increment(expr++)
Unary post-decrement(expr–)
Left to Right
++

+

!
~
Unary pre-increment(++expr)
Unary pre-decrement(–expr)
Unary plus
Unary minus
Unary logical negation
Unary bitwise complement
Right to left
*
/
%
Multiplication
Division
Modulus
Left to right
+
Addition
Subtraction
Left to right
<<
>>
>>>
Bitwise left shift
Bitwise right shift with sign extension
Bitwise right shift with zero extension
Left to right
<
<=
>
>=
instanceof
Relational less than
Relational less than or equal
Relational greater than
Relational greater than or equal
Type comparison (only objects)
Left to right
= =
!=
Relational is equal to
Relational is not equal to
Left to right
&Bitwise ANDLeft to right
^Bitwise exclusive ORLeft to right
|Bitwise inclusive ORLeft to right
&&Logical ANDLeft to right
||Logical ORLeft to right
? :Ternary conditionalRight to left
=
+=
-=
*=
/=
%=
Assignment
Addition assignment
Subtraction assignment
Multiplication assignment
Division assignment
Modulus assignment
Right to left