C Operator Precedence Table
Complete reference for C operator precedence and associativity with examples
Understanding Operator Precedence
Operator precedence determines the order in which operators are evaluated in expressions. Higher precedence (lower numbers) operators are evaluated first. When operators have the same precedence, associativity determines the evaluation order.
Precedence | Operators | Description | Associativity | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ()[]->. | Postfix expressions, function calls, array subscripts, member access postfix | Left-to-right | func()arr[0] |
| 2 | ++--+-!~(type)*&sizeof | Unary operators, prefix increment/decrement, type casting unary | Right-to-left | ++x--y |
| 3 | */% | Multiplicative operators arithmetic | Left-to-right | a * bx / y |
| 4 | +- | Additive operators arithmetic | Left-to-right | a + bx - y |
| 5 | <<>> | Bitwise shift operators bitwise | Left-to-right | x << 2y >> 1 |
| 6 | <<=>>= | Relational operators relational | Left-to-right | a < bx <= y |
| 7 | ==!= | Equality operators relational | Left-to-right | a == bx != y |
| 8 | & | Bitwise AND bitwise | Left-to-right | a & b |
| 9 | ^ | Bitwise XOR bitwise | Left-to-right | a ^ b |
| 10 | | | Bitwise OR bitwise | Left-to-right | a | b |
| 11 | && | Logical AND logical | Left-to-right | a && b |
| 12 | || | Logical OR logical | Left-to-right | a || b |
| 13 | ?: | Ternary conditional operator conditional | Right-to-left | condition ? true_val : false_val |
| 14 | =+=-=*=/=%=&=|=^=<<=>>= | Assignment operators assignment | Right-to-left | a = bx += 5 |
| 15 | , | Comma operator comma | Left-to-right | a = 1, b = 2 |