what are assignment operators in c

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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 −

Assignment Operators in C

Assignment Operators in C Example

Home » Learn C Programming from Scratch » C Assignment Operators

C Assignment Operators

Summary : in this tutorial, you’ll learn about the C assignment operators and how to use them effectively.

Introduction to the C assignment operators

An assignment operator assigns the vale of the right-hand operand to the left-hand operand. The following example uses the assignment operator (=) to assign 1 to the counter variable:

After the assignmment, the counter variable holds the number 1.

The following example adds 1 to the counter and assign the result to the counter:

The = assignment operator is called a simple assignment operator. It assigns the value of the left operand to the right operand.

Besides the simple assignment operator, C supports compound assignment operators. A compound assignment operator performs the operation specified by the additional operator and then assigns the result to the left operand.

The following example uses a compound-assignment operator (+=):

The expression:

is equivalent to the following expression:

The following table illustrates the compound-assignment operators in C:

• A simple assignment operator assigns the value of the left operand to the right operand.
• A compound assignment operator performs the operation specified by the additional operator and then assigns the result to the left operand.

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1. Simple Assignment Operator (=)

Example of simple assignment operator.

2. Compound Assignment Operators

Example of Augmented Arithmetic and Assignment Operators

Example of Augmented Bitwise and Assignment Operators

Practice problems on assignment operators in c, 1. what will the value of "x" be after the execution of the following code, 2. after executing the following code, what is the value of the number variable, benefits of using assignment operators, best practices and tips for using the assignment operator, live classes schedule.

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C Programming Tutorial

• Assignment Operator in C

Last updated on July 27, 2020

We have already used the assignment operator ( = ) several times before. Let's discuss it here in detail. The assignment operator ( = ) is used to assign a value to the variable. Its general format is as follows:

The operand on the left side of the assignment operator must be a variable and operand on the right-hand side must be a constant, variable or expression. Here are some examples:

The precedence of the assignment operator is lower than all the operators we have discussed so far and it associates from right to left.

We can also assign the same value to multiple variables at once.

here x , y and z are initialized to 100 .

Since the associativity of the assignment operator ( = ) is from right to left. The above expression is equivalent to the following:

Note that expressions like:

are called assignment expression. If we put a semicolon( ; ) at the end of the expression like this:

then the assignment expression becomes assignment statement.

Compound Assignment Operator #

Assignment operations that use the old value of a variable to compute its new value are called Compound Assignment.

Consider the following two statements:

Here the second statement adds 5 to the existing value of x . This value is then assigned back to x . Now, the new value of x is 105 .

To handle such operations more succinctly, C provides a special operator called Compound Assignment operator.

The general format of compound assignment operator is as follows:

where op can be any of the arithmetic operators ( + , - , * , / , % ). The above statement is functionally equivalent to the following:

Note : In addition to arithmetic operators, op can also be >> (right shift), << (left shift), | (Bitwise OR), & (Bitwise AND), ^ (Bitwise XOR). We haven't discussed these operators yet.

After evaluating the expression, the op operator is then applied to the result of the expression and the current value of the variable (on the RHS). The result of this operation is then assigned back to the variable (on the LHS). Let's take some examples: The statement:

is equivalent to x = x + 5; or x = x + (5); .

Similarly, the statement:

is equivalent to x = x * 2; or x = x * (2); .

Since, expression on the right side of op operator is evaluated first, the statement:

is equivalent to x = x * (y + 1) .

The precedence of compound assignment operators are same and they associate from right to left (see the precedence table ).

The following table lists some Compound assignment operators:

The following program demonstrates Compound assignment operators in action:

Expected Output:

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C Functions

C structures, c reference, c operators.

Operators are used to perform operations on variables and values.

In the example below, we use the + operator to add together two values:

Although the + operator is often used to add together two values, like in the example above, it can also be used to add together a variable and a value, or a variable and another variable:

C divides the operators into the following groups:

• Arithmetic operators
• Assignment operators
• Comparison operators
• Logical operators
• Bitwise operators

Arithmetic Operators

Arithmetic operators are used to perform common mathematical operations.

Assignment Operators

Assignment operators are used to assign values to variables.

In the example below, we use the assignment operator ( = ) to assign the value 10 to a variable called x :

The addition assignment operator ( += ) adds a value to a variable:

A list of all assignment operators:

Comparison Operators

Comparison operators are used to compare two values (or variables). This is important in programming, because it helps us to find answers and make decisions.

The return value of a comparison is either 1 or 0 , which means true ( 1 ) or false ( 0 ). These values are known as Boolean values , and you will learn more about them in the Booleans and If..Else chapter.

Comparison operators are used to compare two values.

Note: The return value of a comparison is either true ( 1 ) or false ( 0 ).

In the following example, we use the greater than operator ( > ) to find out if 5 is greater than 3:

A list of all comparison operators:

Logical Operators

You can also test for true or false values with logical operators.

Logical operators are used to determine the logic between variables or values, by combining multiple conditions:

C Exercises

Test yourself with exercises.

Fill in the blanks to multiply 10 with 5 , and print the result:

Start the Exercise

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Assignment operator in c.

Last Updated on June 23, 2023 by Prepbytes

This type of operator is employed for transforming and assigning values to variables within an operation. In an assignment operation, the right side represents a value, while the left side corresponds to a variable. It is essential that the value on the right side has the same data type as the variable on the left side. If this requirement is not fulfilled, the compiler will issue an error.

What is Assignment Operator in C language?

In C, the assignment operator serves the purpose of assigning a value to a variable. It is denoted by the equals sign (=) and plays a vital role in storing data within variables for further utilization in code. When using the assignment operator, the value present on the right-hand side is assigned to the variable on the left-hand side. This fundamental operation allows developers to store and manipulate data effectively throughout their programs.

Example of Assignment Operator in C

For example, consider the following line of code:

Types of Assignment Operators in C

Here is a list of the assignment operators that you can find in the C language:

Simple assignment operator (=): This is the basic assignment operator, which assigns the value on the right-hand side to the variable on the left-hand side.

Addition assignment operator (+=): This operator adds the value on the right-hand side to the variable on the left-hand side and assigns the result back to the variable.

x += 3; // Equivalent to x = x + 3; (adds 3 to the current value of "x" and assigns the result back to "x")

Subtraction assignment operator (-=): This operator subtracts the value on the right-hand side from the variable on the left-hand side and assigns the result back to the variable.

x -= 4; // Equivalent to x = x – 4; (subtracts 4 from the current value of "x" and assigns the result back to "x")

* Multiplication assignment operator ( =):** This operator multiplies the value on the right-hand side with the variable on the left-hand side and assigns the result back to the variable.

x = 2; // Equivalent to x = x 2; (multiplies the current value of "x" by 2 and assigns the result back to "x")

Division assignment operator (/=): This operator divides the variable on the left-hand side by the value on the right-hand side and assigns the result back to the variable.

x /= 2; // Equivalent to x = x / 2; (divides the current value of "x" by 2 and assigns the result back to "x")

Bitwise AND assignment (&=): The bitwise AND assignment operator "&=" performs a bitwise AND operation between the value on the left-hand side and the value on the right-hand side. It then assigns the result back to the left-hand side variable.

x &= 3; // Binary: 0011 // After bitwise AND assignment: x = 1 (Binary: 0001)

Bitwise OR assignment (|=): The bitwise OR assignment operator "|=" performs a bitwise OR operation between the value on the left-hand side and the value on the right-hand side. It then assigns the result back to the left-hand side variable.

x |= 3; // Binary: 0011 // After bitwise OR assignment: x = 7 (Binary: 0111)

Bitwise XOR assignment (^=): The bitwise XOR assignment operator "^=" performs a bitwise XOR operation between the value on the left-hand side and the value on the right-hand side. It then assigns the result back to the left-hand side variable.

x ^= 3; // Binary: 0011 // After bitwise XOR assignment: x = 6 (Binary: 0110)

Left shift assignment (<<=): The left shift assignment operator "<<=" shifts the bits of the value on the left-hand side to the left by the number of positions specified by the value on the right-hand side. It then assigns the result back to the left-hand side variable.

x <<= 2; // Binary: 010100 (Shifted left by 2 positions) // After left shift assignment: x = 20 (Binary: 10100)

Right shift assignment (>>=): The right shift assignment operator ">>=" shifts the bits of the value on the left-hand side to the right by the number of positions specified by the value on the right-hand side. It then assigns the result back to the left-hand side variable.

x >>= 2; // Binary: 101 (Shifted right by 2 positions) // After right shift assignment: x = 5 (Binary: 101)

Conclusion The assignment operator in C, denoted by the equals sign (=), is used to assign a value to a variable. It is a fundamental operation that allows programmers to store data in variables for further use in their code. In addition to the simple assignment operator, C provides compound assignment operators that combine arithmetic or bitwise operations with assignment, allowing for concise and efficient code.

FAQs related to Assignment Operator in C

Q1. Can I assign a value of one data type to a variable of another data type? In most cases, assigning a value of one data type to a variable of another data type will result in a warning or error from the compiler. It is generally recommended to assign values of compatible data types to variables.

Q2. What is the difference between the assignment operator (=) and the comparison operator (==)? The assignment operator (=) is used to assign a value to a variable, while the comparison operator (==) is used to check if two values are equal. It is important not to confuse these two operators.

Q3. Can I use multiple assignment operators in a single statement? No, it is not possible to use multiple assignment operators in a single statement. Each assignment operator should be used separately for assigning values to different variables.

Q4. Are there any limitations on the right-hand side value of the assignment operator? The right-hand side value of the assignment operator should be compatible with the data type of the left-hand side variable. If the data types are not compatible, it may lead to unexpected behavior or compiler errors.

Q5. Can I assign the result of an expression to a variable using the assignment operator? Yes, it is possible to assign the result of an expression to a variable using the assignment operator. For example, x = y + z; assigns the sum of y and z to the variable x.

Q6. What happens if I assign a value to an uninitialized variable? Assigning a value to an uninitialized variable will initialize it with the assigned value. However, it is considered good practice to explicitly initialize variables before using them to avoid potential bugs or unintended behavior.

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Assignment Operators in C

Operators are a fundamental part of all the computations that computers perform. Today we will learn about one of them known as Assignment Operators in C. Assignment Operators are used to assign values to variables. The most common assignment operator is = . Assignment Operators are Binary Operators.

Types of Assignment Operators in C

Here is a list of the assignment operators that you can find in the C language:

• basic assignment ( = )
• subtraction assignment ( -= )
• addition assignment ( += )
• division assignment ( /= )
• multiplication assignment ( *= )
• modulo assignment ( %= )
• bitwise XOR assignment ( ^= )
• bitwise OR assignment ( |= )
• bitwise AND assignment ( &= )
• bitwise right shift assignment ( >>= )
• bitwise left shift assignment ( <<= )

Working of Assignment Operators in C

This is the complete list of all assignment operators in C. To read the meaning of operator please keep in mind the above example.

Example for Assignment Operators in C

Basic assignment ( = ) :

Subtraction assignment ( -= ) :

Addition assignment ( += ) :

Division assignment ( /= ) :

Multiplication assignment ( *= ) :

Modulo assignment ( %= ) :

Bitwise XOR assignment ( ^= ) :

Bitwise OR assignment ( |= ) :

Bitwise AND assignment ( &= ) :

Bitwise right shift assignment ( >>= ) :

Bitwise left shift assignment ( <<= ) :

This is the detailed explanation of all the assignment operators in C that we have. Hopefully, This is clear to you.

Practice Problems on Assignment Operators in C

1. what will be the value of a after the following code is executed.

A) 10 B) 11 C) 12 D) 15

Answer – C. 12 Explanation: a starts at 10, increases by 5 to 15, then decreases by 3 to 12. So, a is 12.

2. After executing the following code, what is the value of num ?

A) 4 B) 8 C) 16 D) 32

Answer: C) 16 Explanation: After right-shifting 8 (binary 1000) by one and then left-shifting the result by two, the value becomes 16 (binary 10000).

Q. How does the /= operator function? Is it a combination of two other operators?

A. The /= operator is a compound assignment operator in C++. It divides the left operand by the right operand and assigns the result to the left operand. It is equivalent to using the / operator and then the = operator separately.

Q. What is the most basic operator among all the assignment operators available in the C language?

A. The most basic assignment operator in the C language is the simple = operator, which is used for assigning a value to a variable.

• Assignment operators are used to assign the result of an expression to a variable.
• There are two types of assignment operators in C. Simple assignment operator and compound assignment operator.
• Compound Assignment operators are easy to use and the left operand of expression needs not to write again and again.
• They work the same way in C++ as in C.

Assignment and shorthand assignment operator in C

Quick links.

• Shorthand assignment

Assignment operator is used to assign value to a variable (memory location). There is a single assignment operator = in C. It evaluates expression on right side of = symbol and assigns evaluated value to left side the variable.

For example consider the below assignment table.

The RHS of assignment operator must be a constant, expression or variable. Whereas LHS must be a variable (valid memory location).

Shorthand assignment operator

C supports a short variant of assignment operator called compound assignment or shorthand assignment. Shorthand assignment operator combines one of the arithmetic or bitwise operators with assignment operator.

For example, consider following C statements.

The above expression a = a + 2 is equivalent to a += 2 .

Similarly, there are many shorthand assignment operators. Below is a list of shorthand assignment operators in C.

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Assignment operators

• 8 contributors

expression assignment-operator expression

assignment-operator : one of   =   *=   /=   %=   +=   -=   <<=   >>=   &=   ^=   |=

Assignment operators store a value in the object specified by the left operand. There are two kinds of assignment operations:

simple assignment , in which the value of the second operand is stored in the object specified by the first operand.

compound assignment , in which an arithmetic, shift, or bitwise operation is performed before storing the result.

All assignment operators in the following table except the = operator are compound assignment operators.

Assignment operators table

Operator keywords

Three of the compound assignment operators have keyword equivalents. They are:

C++ specifies these operator keywords as alternative spellings for the compound assignment operators. In C, the alternative spellings are provided as macros in the <iso646.h> header. In C++, the alternative spellings are keywords; use of <iso646.h> or the C++ equivalent <ciso646> is deprecated. In Microsoft C++, the /permissive- or /Za compiler option is required to enable the alternative spelling.

Simple assignment

The simple assignment operator ( = ) causes the value of the second operand to be stored in the object specified by the first operand. If both objects are of arithmetic types, the right operand is converted to the type of the left, before storing the value.

Objects of const and volatile types can be assigned to l-values of types that are only volatile , or that aren't const or volatile .

Assignment to objects of class type ( struct , union , and class types) is performed by a function named operator= . The default behavior of this operator function is to perform a member-wise copy assignment of the object's non-static data members and direct base classes; however, this behavior can be modified using overloaded operators. For more information, see Operator overloading . Class types can also have copy assignment and move assignment operators. For more information, see Copy constructors and copy assignment operators and Move constructors and move assignment operators .

An object of any unambiguously derived class from a given base class can be assigned to an object of the base class. The reverse isn't true because there's an implicit conversion from derived class to base class, but not from base class to derived class. For example:

Assignments to reference types behave as if the assignment were being made to the object to which the reference points.

For class-type objects, assignment is different from initialization. To illustrate how different assignment and initialization can be, consider the code

The preceding code shows an initializer; it calls the constructor for UserType2 that takes an argument of type UserType1 . Given the code

the assignment statement

can have one of the following effects:

Call the function operator= for UserType2 , provided operator= is provided with a UserType1 argument.

Call the explicit conversion function UserType1::operator UserType2 , if such a function exists.

Call a constructor UserType2::UserType2 , provided such a constructor exists, that takes a UserType1 argument and copies the result.

Compound assignment

The compound assignment operators are shown in the Assignment operators table . These operators have the form e1 op = e2 , where e1 is a non- const modifiable l-value and e2 is:

an arithmetic type

a pointer, if op is + or -

a type for which there exists a matching operator *op*= overload for the type of e1

The built-in e1 op = e2 form behaves as e1 = e1 op e2 , but e1 is evaluated only once.

Compound assignment to an enumerated type generates an error message. If the left operand is of a pointer type, the right operand must be of a pointer type, or it must be a constant expression that evaluates to 0. When the left operand is of an integral type, the right operand must not be of a pointer type.

Result of built-in assignment operators

The built-in assignment operators return the value of the object specified by the left operand after the assignment (and the arithmetic/logical operation in the case of compound assignment operators). The resultant type is the type of the left operand. The result of an assignment expression is always an l-value. These operators have right-to-left associativity. The left operand must be a modifiable l-value.

In ANSI C, the result of an assignment expression isn't an l-value. That means the legal C++ expression (a += b) += c isn't allowed in C.

Expressions with binary operators C++ built-in operators, precedence, and associativity C assignment operators

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Assignment Operators In C [ Full Information With Examples ]

Assignment Operators In C

Assignment operators is a binary operator which is used to assign values in a variable , with its right and left sides being a one-one operand. The operand on the left side is variable in which the value is assigned and the right side operands can contain any of the constant, variable, and expression.

The Assignment operator is a lower priority operator. its priority has much lower than the rest of the other operators. Its priority is more than just the comma operator. The priority of all other operators is more than the assignment operator.

We can assign the same value to multiple variables simultaneously by the assignment operator.

x = y = z = 100

Here x, y, and z are initialized to 100.

In C language, the assignment operator can be divided into two categories.

• Simple assignment operator
• Compound assignment operators

1. Simple Assignment Operator In C

This operator is used to assign left-side values ​​to the right-side operands, simple assignment operators are represented by (=).

2. Compound Assignment Operators In C

Compound Assignment Operators use the old value of a variable to calculate its new value and reassign the value obtained from the calculation to the same variable.

Examples of compound assignment operators are: (Example: + =, – =, * =, / =,% =, & =, ^ =)

Look at these two statements:

Here in this example, adding 5 to the x variable in the second statement is again being assigned to the x variable.

Compound Assignment Operators provide us with the C language to perform such operation even more effecient and in less time.

Syntax of Compound Assignment Operators

Here op can be any arithmetic operators (+, -, *, /,%).

The above statement is equivalent to the following depending on the function:

Let us now know about some important compound assignment operators one by one.

“+ =” -: This operator adds the right operand to the left operand and assigns the output to the left operand.

“- =” -: This operator subtracts the right operand from the left operand and returns the result to the left operand.

“* =” -: This operator multiplies the right operand with the left operand and assigns the result to the left operand.

“/ =” -: This operator splits the left operand with the right operand and assigns the result to the left operand.

“% =” -: This operator takes the modulus using two operands and assigns the result to the left operand.

There are many other assignment operators such as left shift and (<< =) operator, right shift and operator (>> =), bitwise and assignment operator (& =), bitwise OR assignment operator (^ =)

List of Assignment Operators In C

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cppreference.com

Assignment operators.

Assignment operators modify the value of the object.

[ edit ] Definitions

Copy assignment replaces the contents of the object a with a copy of the contents of b ( b is not modified). For class types, this is performed in a special member function, described in copy assignment operator .

For non-class types, copy and move assignment are indistinguishable and are referred to as direct assignment .

Compound assignment replace the contents of the object a with the result of a binary operation between the previous value of a and the value of b .

[ edit ] Assignment operator syntax

The assignment expressions have the form

• ↑ target-expr must have higher precedence than an assignment expression.
• ↑ new-value cannot be a comma expression, because its precedence is lower.

[ edit ] Built-in simple assignment operator

For the built-in simple assignment, the object referred to by target-expr is modified by replacing its value with the result of new-value . target-expr must be a modifiable lvalue.

The result of a built-in simple assignment is an lvalue of the type of target-expr , referring to target-expr . If target-expr is a bit-field , the result is also a bit-field.

[ edit ] Assignment from an expression

If new-value is an expression, it is implicitly converted to the cv-unqualified type of target-expr . When target-expr is a bit-field that cannot represent the value of the expression, the resulting value of the bit-field is implementation-defined.

If target-expr and new-value identify overlapping objects, the behavior is undefined (unless the overlap is exact and the type is the same).

In overload resolution against user-defined operators , for every type T , the following function signatures participate in overload resolution:

For every enumeration or pointer to member type T , optionally volatile-qualified, the following function signature participates in overload resolution:

For every pair A1 and A2 , where A1 is an arithmetic type (optionally volatile-qualified) and A2 is a promoted arithmetic type, the following function signature participates in overload resolution:

[ edit ] Built-in compound assignment operator

The behavior of every built-in compound-assignment expression target-expr   op   =   new-value is exactly the same as the behavior of the expression target-expr   =   target-expr   op   new-value , except that target-expr is evaluated only once.

The requirements on target-expr and new-value of built-in simple assignment operators also apply. Furthermore:

• For + = and - = , the type of target-expr must be an arithmetic type or a pointer to a (possibly cv-qualified) completely-defined object type .
• For all other compound assignment operators, the type of target-expr must be an arithmetic type.

In overload resolution against user-defined operators , for every pair A1 and A2 , where A1 is an arithmetic type (optionally volatile-qualified) and A2 is a promoted arithmetic type, the following function signatures participate in overload resolution:

For every pair I1 and I2 , where I1 is an integral type (optionally volatile-qualified) and I2 is a promoted integral type, the following function signatures participate in overload resolution:

For every optionally cv-qualified object type T , the following function signatures participate in overload resolution:

[ edit ] Example

Possible output:

[ edit ] Defect reports

The following behavior-changing defect reports were applied retroactively to previously published C++ standards.

[ edit ] See also

Operator precedence

Operator overloading

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Assignment Operators in C

Assignment operators are used to assigning the result of an expression to a variable. Up to now, we have used the shorthand assignment operator “=”, which assigns the result of a right-hand expression to the left-hand variable. For example, in the expression x = y + z, the sum of y and z is assigned to x.

Another form of assignment operator is variable operator_symbol= expression ; which is equivalent to variable = variable operator_symbol expression;

We have the following different types of assignment and assignment short-hand operators.

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How to Work with Awk Variables, Expressions, and Operators – Part 8

The Awk command series is getting exciting! I believe that, in the previous seven parts, we walked through some fundamentals of Awk that you need to master to enable you to perform basic text or string filtering in Linux.

Starting with this part, we shall dive into advanced areas of Awk to handle more complex text or string filtering operations. Therefore, we will cover Awk features such as variables , numeric expressions , and assignment operators .

These concepts are not significantly different from those you may have encountered in many programming languages before, such as Shell, C, Python, and many others. So, there is no need to worry much about this topic; we are simply revising the common ideas of using these features.

This will probably be one of the easiest Awk command sections to understand, so sit back and let’s get going

1. Awk Variables

In any programming language, a variable is a placeholder that stores a value . When you create a variable in a program file, as the file is executed, some space is created in memory that will store the value you specify for the variable.

You can define Awk variables in the same way you define shell variables as follows:

In the syntax above:

• variable_name : is the name you give a variable.
• value : the value stored in the variable.

Let’s look at some examples below:

Take a look at the simple examples above, in the first variable definition, the value tecmint.com is assigned to the variable computer_name .

Furthermore, the value 22 is assigned to the variable port_no , it is also possible to assign the value of one variable to another variable as in the last example where we assigned the value of computer_name to the variable server.

If you can recall, right from part 2 of this Awk series , where we covered field editing, we talked about how Awk divides input lines into fields and uses a standard field access operator, $ to read the different fields that have been parsed. We can also use variables to store the values of fields as follows.

In the examples above, the value of first_name is set to the second field and second_name is set to the third field.

As an illustration, consider a file named names.txt which contains a list of users indicating their first and last names plus gender.

Using the cat command , we can view the contents of the file as follows

Then, we can also use the variables first_name and second_name to store the first and second names of the first user on the list as by running the Awk command below:

Let us also take a look at another case, when you issue the command uname -a on your terminal, it prints out all your system information.

The second field contains your hostname , therefore we can store the hostname in a variable called hostname and print it using Awk as follows:

2. Numeric Expressions

In Awk , numeric expressions are built using the following numeric operators:

• * : multiplication operator
• + : addition operator
• / : division operator
• - : subtraction operator
• % : modulus operator
• ^ : exponentiation operator

The syntax for a numeric expression is:

In the form above, operand1 and operand2 can be numbers or variable names, and operator is any of the operators above.

Below are some examples to demonstrate how to build numeric expressions:

To understand the use of numeric expressions in Awk , we shall consider the following example below, with the file domains.txt which contains all domains owned by Tecmint .

To view the contents of the file, use the command below:

If we want to count the number of times the domain tecmint.com appears in the file, we can write a simple script to do that as follows:

After creating the script, save it and make it executable, when we run it with the file, domains.txt as our input, we get the following output:

From the output of the script, there are 6 lines in the file domains.txt which contain tecmint.com , to confirm that you can manually count them.

3. Assignment Operators

The last Awk feature we shall cover is assignment operators, there are several assignment operators in Awk and these include the following:

• *= : multiplication assignment operator
• += : addition assignment operator
• /= : division assignment operator
• -= : subtraction assignment operator
• %= : modulus assignment operator
• ^= : exponentiation assignment operator

The simplest syntax of an assignment operation in Awk is as follows:

You can use the assignment operators above to shorten assignment operations in Awk , consider the previous examples, we could perform the assignment in the following form:

Therefore, we can alter the Awk command in the shell script we just wrote above using += assignment operator as follows:

In this segment of the Awk command series , we covered some powerful Awk features, that is variables, building numeric expressions, and using assignment operators, plus a few illustrations of how we can actually use them.

These concepts are not any different from the ones in other programming languages but there may be some significant distinctions under Awk programming.

In part 9 , we shall look at more Awk features that are special patterns: BEGIN and END . Until then, stay connected to Tecmint .

For those seeking a comprehensive resource, we’ve compiled all the Awk series articles into a book, that includes 13 chapters and spans 41 pages, covering both basic and advanced Awk usage with practical examples.

Hey TecMint readers ,

Exciting news! Every month, our top blog commenters will have the chance to win fantastic rewards, like free Linux eBooks such as RHCE , RHCSA , LFCS , Learn Linux , and Awk , each worth $20 !

Learn more about the contest and stand a chance to win by sharing your thoughts below !

Previous article:

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Each tutorial at TecMint is created by a team of experienced Linux system administrators so that it meets our high-quality standards.

Related Posts

How to Use Awk Special Patterns ‘BEGIN and END’ – Part 9

How to Read and Filter Awk Input from STDIN in Linux – Part 7

How to Use ‘next’ Command with Awk in Linux – Part 6

How to Use Compound Expressions with Awk in Linux – Part 5

How to Use Comparison Operators & Data Filtering with Awk – Part 4

How to Use Awk for Text Filtering with Pattern-Specific Actions – Part 3

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Why Assignment Operator Overloading Must Return Reference?

Operator overloading in C++ allows us to define custom behaviors for operators when applied to user-defined types. One of the most commonly overloaded operators is the assignment operator (=), which is used to assign the value of one object to another. However, when overloading the assignment operator, it’s important to ensure that it returns a reference to the object being assigned. But why is this necessary?

In this article, we will learn why the assignment operator must return a reference in C++ when overloading, and what could go wrong if it doesn’t.

Why Must the Assignment Operator Return a Reference?

When overloading the assignment operator in C++ , it’s important that it returns a reference to the object being assigned. There are several key reasons for this:

1. Chaining of Assignment Operations

In C++, assignment operations can be chained together.

For example:

To support this chaining, the assignment operator must return a reference to the object being assigned. This allows the operation b = c to return b, enabling a = b to work as expected.

2. Consistency with Built-in Types

For built-in types, the assignment operator in C++ returns a reference to the left-hand operand. To maintain consistency and intuitive behavior for user-defined types, overloaded assignment operators should also return a reference.

3. Avoiding Unnecessary Object Copies

If the assignment operator returned an object by value instead of by reference, it would result in the creation of a temporary object, which is immediately discarded. This unnecessary copying is inefficient and could lead to performance issues, especially for large objects or objects managing dynamic resources.

C++ Program to Demonstrate Properly Overloading the Assignment Operator

The below example demonstartes how to properly overload the assignment operator in C++.

What Happens if Assignment Operator Does Not Return a Reference?

If we overload the assignment operator and return by value instead of by reference, several issues could arise:

• Chained assignments like a = b = c; would not work correctly.
• Returning by value would create temporary objects, leading to inefficiencies.
• The overloaded assignment operator would behave differently from the built-in assignment operator, which could confuse others of our class.

In C++, when overloading the assignment operator, we must return a reference to the current object ( *this ) as it allows for assignment chaining, maintains consistency with built-in types, and avoids unnecessary object copying. By following these best practice, we can ensure that our overloaded operators are efficient, intuitive, and behave as expected, making our C++ programs more robust and maintainable.

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