Operators in Java

Java has a rich set of operators. Operators in Java are a symbol which is used to perform some operations on data. In this article, you’ll learn different types of operators in Java with examples. 

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List of Java Operators

The following topics will be covered in this Java Operators blog:

1. Java Operators

• Arithmetic Operators
• Assignment Operators
• Unary Operators
• Bitwise Operators
• Relational Operators
• Logical Operators
• Ternary Operator

2. Java Operator Precedence

3. Associativity of operators in Java

What are Operators in Java

Let’s focus on What is Operators in Java one by one in detail.

#1. Arithmetic Operators in Java

Arithmetic Operators perform the same operations that they do in algebra for any mathematical expressions. 

The following table shows the various arithmetic operations available in Java:

Operator	Name	Description
+	Addition	Adds two values
-	Subtraction	Subtracts one value from another
*	Multiplication	Multiplies two values
/	Division	Divides one value by another
%	Modulus – returns the remainder of a division	Returns the division remainder
++	Increment	Increases the value of the variable by 1
--	Decrement	Decreases the value of the variable by 1

Java Arithmetic Operator Example

Now let us take an example of basic arithmetic operators for better insight. They all behave the same way they behave in algebra.

public class opTest{
     public static void main(String args[]) {
        System.out.println("Arithmetic Operators");
        int x = 2 + 3;
        int y = x * 2;
        int z = y / 2;
        int w = y - z;
        int m = -w; //in this case - operator will work us unary minus operator
        int n = 22 % 10;
        System.out.println("x = " + x);
        System.out.println("y = " + y);
        System.out.println("z = " + z);
        System.out.println("w = " + w);
        System.out.println("m = " + m);
        System.out.println("n = " + n);
        }
}

When we run this program, below output we get:

Output:

Arithmetic Operators

x = 5

y = 10

z = 5

w = 5

m = -5

n=2

[Related Article: Learn java Tutorial for Beginners]

#2. Assignment Operators in Java

In Java, Assignment operators are used to assign values to variables.

The following table shows the various types of assignment operators available in Java:

Operator	Example	Equivalent
+=	a+= 4	a = a+4
-=	b-= 5	b = b-5
*=	c*= 8	c = c*8
/=	d/= 3	d = d/3
%=	e%=5j <<= 10	e = e%5
&=	f&= 6	f = f & 6
|=	g |= 7	g = g | 7
^=	h ^= 8	h = h ^ 8
>>=	i >>= 9	i = i >> 9
<<=	j <<= 10	j = j << 10

They are very useful as it saves a bit of typing and Java better implements them than their long forms. 

Example of Assignment Operator

Here is an example of showing their use:

public class Test {

   public static void main(String args[]) {
      int x = 10;
      int y = 20;
      int z = 0;

      z = x + y;
      System.out.println("z = x + y = " + z );

      z += x ;
      System.out.println("z += x  = " + z );

      z -= x ;
      System.out.println("z -= x = " + z );

      z *= x ;
      System.out.println("z *= x = " + z );

      x = 10;
      z = 15;
      z /= x ;
      System.out.println("z /= x = " + z );

      x = 10;
      z = 15;
      z %= x ;
      System.out.println("z %= x  = " + z );

      z <<= 2 ;
      System.out.println("z <<= 2 = " + z );

      z >>= 2 ;
      System.out.println("z >>= 2 = " + z );

      z >>= 2 ;
      System.out.println("z >>= 2 = " + z );

      z &= x ;
      System.out.println("z &= x  = " + z );

      z ^= x ;
      System.out.println("z ^= x   = " + z );

      z |= x ;
      System.out.println("z |= x   = " + z );
   }
}

Output:

z = x + y = 30

z += x  = 40

z -= x = 30

z *= x = 300

z /= x = 1

z %= x  = 5

z <<= 2 = 20

z >>= 2 = 5

z >>= 2 = 1

z &= x  = 0

z ^= x   = 10

z |= x   = 10

[Related Article: What are Different Classes And Objects In Java?]

#3. Unary Operators in Java

In Java, Unary operators are used to perform various operations like incrementing/decrementing a value one by one, negating an expression, or inverting the value of boolean.

Name	Operator	Description
Unary plus operator	+	It represents the positive value
Unary minus operator	-	It negates an expression
Logical complement operator	!	It inverts the value of a boolean
Increment operator	++	It increments a value by 1
Decrement operator	--	It decrements a value by 1

Java Unary Operator Example

class UnaryTrial {

    public static void main(String[] args) {

        int result = +1;
        // result is now 1
        System.out.println(result);

        result--;
        // result is now 0
        System.out.println(result);

        result++;
        // result is now 1
        System.out.println(result);

        result = -result;
        // result is now -1
        System.out.println(result);

        boolean success = false;
        // false 
        System.out.println(success);
        // true
        System.out.println(!success);
    }
}

#5. Relational Operators in Java

In Java, relational operators are used to compare two variables for equality, non-equality, less than, greater than etc. Java relational operators always return a boolean value, either true or false.

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

Java Relational Operator Example

Here is the example showing the use of relational operators.

package com.mindmajix.java;

public class RelationalOperators {

	public static void main(String[] args) {

		int x = 10;
		int y = 20;

		System.out.println(x == y);
		System.out.println(x != y);
		System.out.println(x > y);
		System.out.println(x < y);
		System.out.println(x >= y);
		System.out.println(x <= y);

		// objects support == and != operators
		System.out.println(new Data1() == new Data1());
		System.out.println(new Data1() != new Data1());

	}

}

class Data1 {
}

Output:

false 

true 

false 

true 

false 

true 

false 

true 

Frequently Asked Core Java interview questions

#6. Logical Operators in Java

In Java, logical operators are used to check whether the expression is true or false.

Operator	Name	Description
&&	Logical and	If both statements are true, returns true.
||	Logical or	If one of the statements is true, it returns true
!	Logical not	Reverse the result (if the result is true, returns false)

#7. Ternary Operator in Java

The ternary operator in Java evaluates the test condition and executes a block of code based on the result of the condition. As the name ternary suggests, it is the only operator in Java consisting of three operands. It is written like the below syntax.

expr1? expr2: expr3

The meaning of this statement is: expr1 is evaluated and will result in some boolean value. If it is true then expr2 will be evaluated else expr3 will be evaluated. The only restriction is that both expr2 and expr3 must be of the same data type and cannot be void.

Java Ternary Operator Example

Let us look at one example to understand more.

class opTest {
public static void main(String args[]) {
        int i;
        String s;
        i = 10;
        s= i < 0 ? "Negative" : "Positive"; // get absolute value of i
        System.out.println(i + " is " + s);
        }
}

Output:

10 is Positive

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Java Operator Precedence

Operators are special symbols that perform particular operations on one, two, or three operands. Precedence of operators in java determines the order in which operators in an expression are evaluated.

Below is the table showing the precedence order of all the Java operators according to their order:

Java Operator Precedence
Operators	Precedence
postfix increment and decrement	++--
prefix increment and decrement, and unary	++ -- + - ~ !
multiplicative	* / %
additive	+-
shift	<< >> >>>
relational	< > <= >= instanceof
equality	== !=
bitwise AND	&
bitwise OR	^
bitwise inclusive OR	|
logical AND	&&
logical OR	||
ternary	?:
assignment	= += -= *= /= %= &= ^= |= <<= >>= >>>=

Associativity of operators in Java

If an expression has two operators with similar precedence, then according to the associativity, the expression is evaluated (either right to left or left to right). 

Conclusion:

With this, we have come to the end of this Operators in Java blog. We hope now you understood what are Java operators, their types, the order in which operators precedence is evaluated and its associativity.