Relational Operators in C
In C, relational operators are the symbols that are used for comparison between two values to understand the type of relationship a pair of numbers shares. The result that we get after the relational operation is a boolean value, that tells whether the comparison is true or false. Relational operators are mainly used in conditional statements and loops to check the conditions in C programming.
Types of C Relational Operators
There are a total of 6 relational operators in C language. There are:
1. Equal to operator (==)
The C equal to operator (==) is a relational operator that is used to check whether the two given operands are equal or not.
- Equal to operator is a binary operator hence it requires two operands to perform the comparison.
- If the two values are equal, it returns true. Otherwise, it returns false.
- It does not work for strings or arrays.
Syntax
operand1 == operand2
For example, 5==5 will return true.
2. Not equal to operator (!=)
The C not equal (==) to operator is another relational operator used for checking whether the two given operands are equal or not.
- It is also a binary operator, requiring two operands to perform the comparison.
- It is the exact boolean complement of the ‘==’ operator which returns true if the two values are not equal, false otherwise.
Syntax
operand1 != operand2
For example, 5!=5 will return false.
3. Greater than operator (>)
The greater than operator is a relational operator in C that checks whether the first operand is greater than the second operand or not.
- It is a binary operator.
- If the operand first is greater than the operand2, it returns true. Otherwise, it returns false.
- This operator is used to make decisions or create conditions based on the relative magnitude of two values.
Syntax
operand1 > operand2
For example, 6>5 will return true.
4. Less than operator (<)
The less than operator is a relational operator in C that checks whether the first operand is lesser than the second operand.
- It is a binary operator.
- If the operand first is less than the operand2, it returns true. Otherwise, it returns false.
- This operator is also used to make decisions or create conditions based on the relative magnitude of two values.
Syntax
operand1 < operand2
For example, 6<5 will return false.
Note: The greater than and less than operator are not equal to the complement of each other.
5. Greater than or equal to operator (>=)
The greater than or equal to the operator is a relational operator in C that checks whether the first operand is greater than or equal to the second operand.
- It is a binary operator.
- If the operand first is greater than or equal to the operand2, it returns true. Otherwise, it returns false.
Syntax
operand1 >= operand2
For example, 5>=5 will return true.
6. Less than or equal to the the operator (<=)
The less than or equal to the operator is a relational operator in C that checks whether the first operand is less than or equal to the second operand.
- It is a binary operator.
- If the operand first is greater than or equal to the operand2, it returns true. Otherwise, it returns false.
Syntax
operand1 <= operand2
For example, 5<=5 will also return true.
Example of Relational Operator in C
The below example demonstrates the use of all relational operators discussed above:
C
// C program to demonstrate working of relational operators #include <stdio.h> int main() { int a = 10, b = 4; // greater than example if (a > b) printf ( "a is greater than b\n" ); else printf ( "a is less than or equal to b\n" ); // greater than equal to if (a >= b) printf ( "a is greater than or equal to b\n" ); else printf ( "a is lesser than b\n" ); // less than example if (a < b) printf ( "a is less than b\n" ); else printf ( "a is greater than or equal to b\n" ); // lesser than equal to if (a <= b) printf ( "a is lesser than or equal to b\n" ); else printf ( "a is greater than b\n" ); // equal to if (a == b) printf ( "a is equal to b\n" ); else printf ( "a and b are not equal\n" ); // not equal to if (a != b) printf ( "a is not equal to b\n" ); else printf ( "a is equal b\n" ); return 0; } |
a is greater than b a is greater than or equal to b a is greater than or equal to b a is greater than b a and b are not equal a is not equal to b