Operators in Java

The operator set in Java is extremely rich. Broadly, the operators available in Java are divided in the following categories.

• Relational Operators

• Arithmetic Operators

• Logical Operators

• Bitwise Operators

• Misc Operators

• Assignment Operators

The Arithmetic Operators

Operations in Java are used in essentially the same manner as in algebra. They are used with variables for performing arithmetic operations. Here is a list of arithmetic operators available in Java.

The Relational Operators

Java also supports several relational operators. The list of relational operators that are supported by Java are given below.

The Bitwise Operators

The bitwise operators available in Java can be easily applied to a number of data types. These data types include byte, short, long, int and char. Typically, any bitwise operator performs the concerned operation bit-wise. For instance, if you consider the example of an integer x, which has the value 60. Therefore, the binary equivalent of x is 00111100. Consider another variable y, with the value 13 or 00001101. If we perform the bitwise operation & on these two numbers, then you will get the following result:

x&y = 0000 1100

The table shown below shows a list of bitwise operators that are available in Java.

In addition to the above mentioned, Java also supports right shift zero fill operator (>>>), which fills the shifted bits on the right with zero.

The Logical Operators

Logical operators are an integral part of any operator set. The logical operators supported by Java are listed in the table below.

The Assignment Operators

There are following assignment operators supported by Java language:

Misc Operators

In addition to the above mentioned, there are several other operators, which are supported by Java.

Conditional Operator ( ? : ):

The conditional operator is a ternary operator that contains three operands. Essentially, this operator is used for the evaluation of boolean expressions. The operator tests the first operand or condition and if the condition is true, then the second value is assigned to the variable. However, if the condition is false, the third operand is assigned to the variable. The syntax of this operator is as follows:

variable a = (<condition>) ? valueiftrue : valueiffalse Sample implementation:

public class myTest {
    public static void main(String args[]) {
        int x, y;
        x = 5;
        y = (x == 5) ? 15 : 40;
        System.out.println(“y = ”+y);
        y = (x == 34) ? 60 : 95;
        System.out.println(“x = ”+y);
    }
}

The compilation and execution of this code shall give the following result: 

y = 15
y = 95

instanceof Operator:

Only object reference variables can be used with this operator. The objective of this operator is to check is an object is an instance of an exiting class. The syntax of this operator is as follows:

(<object reference variable>) instanceof(<interface/class>)

Sample implementation of this operator and its purpose of use is given below: 

public class myTest {
  public static void main(String args[]) {
    int x = 4;
    boolean resultant = x instanceof int;
    System.out.println(resultant);
  }
}

The output of this code shall be true. This operator can also be used in comparison. A sample implementation of this is given below:

class Animal {}
public class Monkey extends Animal {
  public static void main(String args[]) {
    Animal newa = new Monkey();
    boolean resultant = newa instanceof Monkey;
    System.out.println(resultant);
  }
}

The output for this code will also be true. Precedence of Java Operators

More often than not, operators are used in combinations in expressions. However, you must have also realized that it becomes difficult to predict the order in which operations will take place during execution. The operator precedence table for Java shall help you predict operator operations in an expression deduction. For instance, if you are performing addition and multiplication in the same expression, then multiplication takes place prior to addition. The following table illustrates the order and hierarchy of operators in Java. The associativity for all the operators is left to right. However, the unary, assignment and conditional operator follows right to left associativity.