C Precedence And Associativity Of Operators

Precedence of operators

The precedence of operators determines which operator is executed first if there is more than one operator in an expression.

Let us consider an example:

int x = 5 - 17* 6;

In C, the precedence of * is higher than - and =. Hence, 17 * 6 is evaluated first. Then the expression involving - is evaluated as the precedence of - is higher than that of =.

Here's a table of operators precedence from higher to lower. The property of associativity will be discussed shortly.


Operators Precedence & Associativity Table

Operator Meaning of operator Associativity
()
[]
->
.
Functional call
Array element reference
Indirect member selection
Direct member selection
Left to right
!
~
+
-
++
--
&
*
sizeof
(type)
Logical negation
Bitwise(1 's) complement
Unary plus
Unary minus
Increment
Decrement
Dereference (Address)
Pointer reference
Returns the size of an object
Typecast (conversion)
Right to left
*
/
%
Multiply
Divide
Remainder
Left to right
+
-
Binary plus(Addition)
Binary minus(subtraction)
Left to right
<<
>>
Left shift
Right shift
Left to right
<
<=
>
>=
Less than
Less than or equal
Greater than
Greater than or equal
Left to right
==
!=
Equal to
Not equal to
Left to right
& Bitwise AND Left to right
^ Bitwise exclusive OR Left to right
| Bitwise OR Left to right
&& Logical AND Left to right
|| Logical OR Left to right
?: Conditional Operator Right to left
=
*=
/=
%=
+=
-=
&=
^=
|=
<<=
>>=
Simple assignment
Assign product
Assign quotient
Assign remainder
Assign sum
Assign difference
Assign bitwise AND
Assign bitwise XOR
Assign bitwise OR
Assign left shift
Assign right shift
Right to left
, Separator of expressions Left to right

Associativity of Operators

The associativity of operators determines the direction in which an expression is evaluated. For example,

b = a;

Here, the value of a is assigned to b, and not the other way around. It's because the associativity of the = operator is from right to left.

Also, if two operators of the same precedence (priority) are present, associativity determines the direction in which they execute.

Let us consider an example:

1 == 2 != 3

Here, operators == and != have the same precedence. And, their associativity is from left to right. Hence, 1 == 2 is executed first.

The expression above is equivalent to:

(1 == 2) != 3

Note: If a statement has multiple operators, you can use parentheses () to make the code more readable.

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