Operator Precedence and Associativity in C

The precedence of operators in C dictates the order in which the operators will be evolved in an expression. Associativity, on the other hand, defines the order in which the operators of the same precedence will be evaluated in an expression. Also, associativity can occur from either right to left or left to right.

In this article, we will take a closer look at Operator Precedence and Associativity in C according to the GATE Syllabus for CSE (Computer Science Engineering). Read ahead to know more.

Table of Contents

• Use Of The Operator Precedence And Associativity In C
  • Operator Precedence
  • Operator Associativity
• Summary Of Operator Precedence And Associativity In C
• Some Important Points To Remember
• Practice Problems On Operator Precedence And Associativity In C
• FAQs

Use of the Operator Precedence and Associativity in C

Precedence and Associativity are two of the characters that are used for operators in an expression for determining the order of sub-expressions when they do not have brackets.

Operator Precedence

Operator precedence helps us determine which of the operators in an expression must be evaluated first in case the expression consists of more than a single operator.

Example,

50 – 2 * 15 is going to yield 20. It is because it gets evaluated as 50 – (2 * 15), and not as (50 – 2) * 15. The reason here is that subtraction (-) has lower precedence as compared to multiplication (*).

Operator Associativity

We use associativity when two or more than two operators with the same precedence are present in the same expression.

Example,

The precedence of Division and Multiplication arithmetic operators is the same. So, let’s say we have an expression with us which is 6 * 3 / 20. The evaluation of this expression would be (6 * 3) / 20 because the associativity will be left to right for both the operators – multiplication and division. In a similar case, the calculation of 40 / 4 * 5 would be (40 / 4) * 5 because the associativity would be from right to left here as well.

Summary of Operator Precedence and Associativity in C

Here is how the operator precedence and associativity work in the C language:

Some Important Points to Remember

1. We only use associativity when we have two or more operators that have the same precedence in an expression.

The point to note here is that associativity is not applicable when we are defining the order of evaluation of operands with different levels of precedence.

2. All the operators that have a similar level of precedence have the same associativity. It is very important, or else the compiler won’t be able to decide what order of evaluation must an expression follow when it has two operators with the same precedence but different associativity. For example, – and + have the very same associativity.

3. The associativity and precedence of prefix ++ and postfix ++ are very different from each other. Here, the precedence of prefix ++ is less as compared to the postfix ++. Thus, their associativity also turns out to be different. Here, the associativity of prefix ++ is from right to left, while the associativity of postfix ++ is from left to right.

4. We must use a comma (,) very carefully, as it has the least level of precedence among all the other operators present in an expression.

5. We don’t have chaining of comparison in the C programming language. The Python language treats the expressions such as x > y > z as x > y and y > z. No similar type of chaining occurs in the C program.

Practice Problems on Operator Precedence and Associativity in C

1. What would be the output/result obtained from this program?

int main()

{

int x = 5, y = 10;

int z;

z = x * 2 + y;

printf(“\n output = %d”, z);

return 0;

}

A. 0

B. 5

C. 20

D. 12

Answer – C. 20

We can calculate the output of this code using the precedence table. According to this table, the precedence of the assignment operator ( – ) and the addition operator ( + ) is lower than that of the multiplication operator ( * ). Thus, multiplication will get evaluated first here.

Thus, z = x * 2 + y

z = 5 * 2 + 10

z = 10 + 10

z = 20

2. What would be the output/result obtained from this program?

int main()

{

int x = 50, y = 5;

int z;

z = x / 2 + y;

printf(“\n output = %d”, z);

return 0;

}

A. 80

B. 30

C. 0

D. 5

Answer – B. 30

We can calculate the output of this code using the precedence table. According to this table, the precedence of the assignment operator ( – ) and the addition operator ( + ) is lower than that of the division operator ( / ). Thus, multiplication will get evaluated first here.

Thus, z = x / 2 + y

z = 50 / 2 + 5

z = 25 + 5

z = 30

3. What would be the output/result obtained from this program?

int main()

{

int x = 30, y = 12;

int z;

z = x * 2 / y;

printf(“\n output = %d”, z);

return 0;

}

A. 5

B. 10

C. 15

D. 60

Answer – A. 5

The evaluation of this expression would be (30 * 2) / 12 because the associativity will be left to right for both the operators – multiplication and division.

Thus, z = x * 2 / y

z = (30 * 2) / 12

z = 60 / 12

z = 5

4. What would be the output/result obtained from this program?

int main()

{

int x = 80, y = 3;

int z;

z = x / 2 * y;

printf(“\n output = %d”, z);

return 0;

}

A. 10

B. 30

C. 55

D. 120

Answer – D. 120

The evaluation of this expression would be (80 / 2) * 3 because the associativity will be left to right for both the operators – multiplication and division.

Thus, z = x / 2 * y

z = (80 / 2) * 3

z = 40 * 3

z = 120

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