In a programming language, operators are special symbols such as +, -, ^, etc. that perform some action on operands.
For example, operators are the signs for adding, subtracting, multiplication, and division like +, -, *, /, and the operations they perform on the integers and the real numbers.
Below is a list of the different types of operators.
| Type | Description |
|---|---|
| Arithmetic | Perform familiar calculations on numeric values, including shifting their bit patterns. |
| Logical | Compare Boolean expressions and return a Boolean result. |
| Bitwise | Evaluate two integral values in binary (base 2) form. |
| Comparison | Compare two expressions and return a Boolean value representing the result of the comparison. |
| String Concatenation | Join multiple strings into a single string. |
Arithmetic operators are used for performing many of the familiar arithmetic operations that involve the calculation of numeric values represented by literals, variables, other expressions, function and property calls, and constants.
Here are some examples of arithmetic operators and their effects.
Dim a As Integer = 10
Dim b As Integer = 20
Console.WriteLine("a + b = {0}", a + b)
Console.WriteLine("a - b = {0}", a - b)
Console.WriteLine("a * b = {0}", a * b)
Let's run the above code and you will see the following output.
a + b = 30
a - b = -10
a * b = 200
The division operator / has a different effect on integer and real numbers. When we divide an integer by an integer (like int, long, and sbyte) the returned value is an integer. Such division is called an integer division.
Here are some examples of division operators and their effect when using integer division.
Dim squarePerimeter As Integer = 17
Dim squareSideInt As Integer = squarePerimeter / 4
Console.WriteLine(squareSideInt)
Dim squareSideDouble As Double = squarePerimeter / 4.0
Console.WriteLine(squareSideDouble)
Let's run the above code and you will see the following output.
4
4.25
Logical operators or you can say Boolean operators take Boolean values and return a Boolean result (true or false). The basic Boolean operators are && (and), || (or), ^ (exclusive OR) and ! (logical negation).
The following table contains the logical operators in C# and the operations that they perform.
| A | B | Not A | A AndAlso B | A OrElse B | A Xor B |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| true | true | false | true | true | false |
| true | false | false | false | true | true |
| false | true | true | false | true | true |
| false | false | true | false | false | false |
Let's consider the following simple examples of logical operators.
Dim a As Boolean = True
Dim b As Boolean = False
Console.WriteLine(a AndAlso b)
Console.WriteLine(a OrElse b)
Console.WriteLine(Not b)
Console.WriteLine(b OrElse True)
Console.WriteLine((5 > 7) Xor (a = b))
A bitwise operator is an operator that acts on the binary representation of numeric types.
Here is an example of using bitwise operators. The binary representation of the numbers and the results of the bitwise operators are shown in the comments.
Dim a As Byte = 3
Dim b As Byte = 5
Console.WriteLine(a Or b)
Console.WriteLine(a And b)
Console.WriteLine(a Xor b)
Console.WriteLine(Not a And b)
Comparison operators are used to comparing two or more operands. C# supports the following comparison operators.
>)<)>=)<=)=)<>)The following example shows the usage of comparison operators.
Dim x As Integer = 10
Dim y As Integer = 5
Console.WriteLine("x > y : " & (x > y))
Console.WriteLine("x < y : " & (x < y))
Console.WriteLine("x >= y : " & (x >= y))
Console.WriteLine("x <= y : " & (x <= y))
Console.WriteLine("x = y : " & (x = y))
Console.WriteLine("x != y : " & (x <> y))
Concatenation operators join multiple strings into a single string. There are two concatenation operators, + and &. Both carry out the basic concatenation operation, as the following example shows.
Dim vbnet As String = "VB.NET "
Dim tutorial As String = "Tutorial."
Dim vbnetTutorial As String = vbnet & tutorial
Console.WriteLine(vbnetTutorial)
Dim csharp8 As String = vbnet + "15"
Console.WriteLine(csharp8)