Arithmetic and Unary Operators in Java

For basic mathematical operation the Java programming language provides arithmetic operators like addition (+), subtraction (-), division (/), multiplication(*) and modulus (%, which divides one operand by another and returns the remainder as its result).

Arithmetic operators

Example code for arithmetic operators

public class ArithmeticDemo {

 public static void main(String[] args) {
  int num1 = 3;
  int num2 = 4;
  int result = num1 + num2;
  System.out.println("Addition result - " + result);
  // Subtraction
  result = result - 3;
  System.out.println("Subtraction result - " + result);
  // Division
  result = result/2;
  System.out.println("Division result - " + result);
  // Multiplication
  result = result * 6;
  System.out.println("Multiplication result - " + result);
  // Modulo division
  result = result % 8;
  System.out.println("Modulo division result - " + result);

  // overloaded + operator for string concatenation
  String str1 = "This is ";
  String str2 = "a string";
  String concatString = str1 + str2;
  System.out.println("Concatenated String " + concatString);
 }
}

Output

Addition result - 7
Subtraction result - 4
Division result - 2
Multiplication result - 12
Modulo division result - 4
Concatenated String This is a string

Compound assignment operator

You can also combine the arithmetic operator with the assignment operator to create compound assignments. For example x = x + 7; can also be written as x += 7;

Compound assignment operator example code

public class OperatorDemo {

 public static void main(String[] args) {
  int x = 5;
  int y = 6;
  int z = 7;
  int p = 4;
  int q = 16;

  x += 4;
  System.out.println("x - " + x);

  y -= 2;
  System.out.println("y - " + y);

  z *= 3;
  System.out.println("z - " + z);

  p /= 2;
  System.out.println("p - " + p);

  q %= 3;
  System.out.println("q - " + q);

 }
}

Output

x - 9
y - 4
z - 21
p - 2
q – 1

Unary operators

Example code

Let’s see an example where unary plus operator, unary minus operator and logical component operator are used.

public class OperatorDemo {

 public static void main(String[] args) {
  // unary plus operator
  int x = +5;
  System.out.println("x = " + x);

  // unary minus operator
  x = -x;
  System.out.println("x = " + x);

  boolean flag = false;
  System.out.println("flag = " + flag);
  // logical component operator
  System.out.println("flag = " + !flag);

 }

}

Output

x = 5
x = -5
flag = false
flag = true

Increment and decrement operator

The increment operator increases its operand value by 1. For example x = x + 1; can be written as x++; using increment operator.

Same way decrement operator decreases its operand value by 1. For example x = x – 1; can be written as x--; using decrement operator.

The increment/decrement operators can be applied before (prefix) or after (postfix) the operand. For example prefix code ++x; or the postfix code x++; both will result in x incremented by one.

Difference between prefix and postfix is that in prefix version operand is incremented/decremented and that value is used in the expression. Whereas in postfix version original value is used in the expression and then the operand is incremented/decremented.

As example -

x = 7;
y = ++x;

Here y has the value 8 because the operand is incremented before using it in expression.

X = 7;
y = x++;

Here y has the value 7 because the original value is used in the expression and then the operand is incremented. So x is 8 but y has the original value of x which was 7.

Example code

public class OperatorDemo {

 public static void main(String[] args) {
  // prefix
  int x = 5;
  int y = ++x;
  System.out.println("x - " + x);
  System.out.println("y - " + y);

  // postfix
  int a = 8;
  int b = a++;
  System.out.println("a - " + a);
  System.out.println("b - " + b);

  y = --x;
  System.out.println("x - " + x);
  System.out.println("y - " + y);

  b = a--;
  System.out.println("a - " + a);
  System.out.println("b - " + b);

 }

}

Output

x - 6
y - 6
a - 9
b - 8
x - 5
y - 5
a - 8
b - 9

That's all for this topic Arithmetic and Unary Operators in Java. If you have any doubt or any suggestions to make please drop a comment. Thanks!

Related Topics

1. Ternary operator in Java
2. instanceof Operator in Java
3. BigDecimal in Java
4. Switch-Case statement in Java

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