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Assignment Operators In C++
In C++, the assignment operator forms the backbone of many algorithms and computational processes by performing a simple operation like assigning a value to a variable. It is denoted by equal sign ( = ) and provides one of the most basic operations in any programming language that is used to assign some value to the variables in C++ or in other words, it is used to store some kind of information.
The right-hand side value will be assigned to the variable on the left-hand side. The variable and the value should be of the same data type.
The value can be a literal or another variable of the same data type.
Compound Assignment Operators
In C++, the assignment operator can be combined into a single operator with some other operators to perform a combination of two operations in one single statement. These operators are called Compound Assignment Operators. There are 10 compound assignment operators in C++:
- Addition Assignment Operator ( += )
- Subtraction Assignment Operator ( -= )
- Multiplication Assignment Operator ( *= )
- Division Assignment Operator ( /= )
- Modulus Assignment Operator ( %= )
- Bitwise AND Assignment Operator ( &= )
- Bitwise OR Assignment Operator ( |= )
- Bitwise XOR Assignment Operator ( ^= )
- Left Shift Assignment Operator ( <<= )
- Right Shift Assignment Operator ( >>= )
Lets see each of them in detail.
1. Addition Assignment Operator (+=)
In C++, the addition assignment operator (+=) combines the addition operation with the variable assignment allowing you to increment the value of variable by a specified expression in a concise and efficient way.
This above expression is equivalent to the expression:
2. Subtraction Assignment Operator (-=)
The subtraction assignment operator (-=) in C++ enables you to update the value of the variable by subtracting another value from it. This operator is especially useful when you need to perform subtraction and store the result back in the same variable.
3. Multiplication Assignment Operator (*=)
In C++, the multiplication assignment operator (*=) is used to update the value of the variable by multiplying it with another value.
4. Division Assignment Operator (/=)
The division assignment operator divides the variable on the left by the value on the right and assigns the result to the variable on the left.
5. Modulus Assignment Operator (%=)
The modulus assignment operator calculates the remainder when the variable on the left is divided by the value or variable on the right and assigns the result to the variable on the left.
6. Bitwise AND Assignment Operator (&=)
This operator performs a bitwise AND between the variable on the left and the value on the right and assigns the result to the variable on the left.
7. Bitwise OR Assignment Operator (|=)
The bitwise OR assignment operator performs a bitwise OR between the variable on the left and the value or variable on the right and assigns the result to the variable on the left.
8. Bitwise XOR Assignment Operator (^=)
The bitwise XOR assignment operator performs a bitwise XOR between the variable on the left and the value or variable on the right and assigns the result to the variable on the left.
9. Left Shift Assignment Operator (<<=)
The left shift assignment operator shifts the bits of the variable on the left to left by the number of positions specified on the right and assigns the result to the variable on the left.
10. Right Shift Assignment Operator (>>=)
The right shift assignment operator shifts the bits of the variable on the left to the right by a number of positions specified on the right and assigns the result to the variable on the left.
Also, it is important to note that all of the above operators can be overloaded for custom operations with user-defined data types to perform the operations we want.
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Assignment Operators in C
In C language, the assignment operator stores a certain value in an already declared variable. A variable in C can be assigned the value in the form of a literal, another variable, or an expression.
The value to be assigned forms the right-hand operand, whereas the variable to be assigned should be the operand to the left of the " = " symbol, which is defined as a simple assignment operator in C.
In addition, C has several augmented assignment operators.
The following table lists the assignment operators supported by the C language −
Simple Assignment Operator (=)
The = operator is one of the most frequently used operators in C. As per the ANSI C standard, all the variables must be declared in the beginning. Variable declaration after the first processing statement is not allowed.
You can declare a variable to be assigned a value later in the code, or you can initialize it at the time of declaration.
You can use a literal, another variable, or an expression in the assignment statement.
Once a variable of a certain type is declared, it cannot be assigned a value of any other type. In such a case the C compiler reports a type mismatch error.
In C, the expressions that refer to a memory location are called "lvalue" expressions. A lvalue may appear as either the left-hand or right-hand side of an assignment.
On the other hand, the term rvalue refers to a data value that is stored at some address in memory. A rvalue is an expression that cannot have a value assigned to it which means an rvalue may appear on the right-hand side but not on the left-hand side of an assignment.
Variables are lvalues and so they may appear on the left-hand side of an assignment. Numeric literals are rvalues and so they may not be assigned and cannot appear on the left-hand side. Take a look at the following valid and invalid statements −
Augmented Assignment Operators
In addition to the = operator, C allows you to combine arithmetic and bitwise operators with the = symbol to form augmented or compound assignment operator. The augmented operators offer a convenient shortcut for combining arithmetic or bitwise operation with assignment.
For example, the expression "a += b" has the same effect of performing "a + b" first and then assigning the result back to the variable "a".
Run the code and check its output −
Similarly, the expression "a <<= b" has the same effect of performing "a << b" first and then assigning the result back to the variable "a".
Here is a C program that demonstrates the use of assignment operators in C −
When you compile and execute the above program, it will produce the following result −
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