Special Operators

In C, special operators refer to operators that don't fit into the usual arithmetic, relational, logical, or bitwise categories. These operators have unique roles in programming.

Comma Operator: ,

The comma operator allows multiple expressions to be evaluated in a single statement, with the result being the value of the last expression.

#include <stdio.h>
int main() {
    int a, b, c;
    a = (b = 10, c = 20, b + c); // b = 10, c = 20, a = b + c
    printf("a = %d, b = %d, c = %d\n", a, b, c);
    return 0;
}

Pointer Operators * and &

These operators are used in pointer operations:

• * (dereference): Access the value at the address stored in a pointer.
• & (address-of): Get the memory address of a variable.

#include <stdio.h>
int main() {
    int x = 10;
    int *ptr = &x; // Pointer to x
    int y = *ptr;  // Dereferencing ptr
    printf("x = %d, Address of x = %p, Value at ptr = %d\n", x, ptr, y);
    return 0;
}

Sizeof Operator:

The sizeof operator is used to determine the size (in bytes) of a data type or variable.

#include <stdio.h>
int main() {
    int a;
    printf("Size of int: %zu bytesn", sizeof(a));
    return 0;
}

Ternary (Conditional) Operator ? :

This operator is shorthand for an if-else statement.

#include <stdio.h>
int main() {
    int a = 10, b = 20;
    int max = (a > b) ? a : b; // Find the larger value
    printf("Max value = %d\n", max);
    return 0;
}

Type Cast Operator :

Used to explicitly convert a value from one data type to another.

#include <stdio.h>
int main() {
    int a = 5, b = 2;
    float result = (float)a / b; // Casting a to float
    printf("Result = %.2f\n", result);
    return 0;
}