assignment operator in c syntax

• C Programming Tutorial
• Basics of C
• C - Overview
• C - Features
• C - History
• C - Environment Setup
• C - Program Structure
• C - Hello World
• C - Compilation Process
• C - Comments
• C - Keywords
• C - Identifiers
• C - User Input
• C - Basic Syntax
• C - Data Types
• C - Variables
• C - Integer Promotions
• C - Type Conversion
• C - Type Casting
• C - Booleans
• Constants and Literals in C
• C - Constants
• C - Literals
• C - Escape sequences
• C - Format Specifiers
• Operators in C
• C - Operators
• C - Arithmetic Operators
• C - Relational Operators
• C - Logical Operators
• C - Bitwise Operators
• C - Assignment Operators
• C - Unary Operators
• C - Increment and Decrement Operators
• C - Ternary Operator
• C - sizeof Operator
• C - Operator Precedence
• C - Misc Operators
• Decision Making in C
• C - Decision Making
• C - if statement
• C - if...else statement
• C - nested if statements
• C - switch statement
• C - nested switch statements
• C - While loop
• C - For loop
• C - Do...while loop
• C - Nested loop
• C - Infinite loop
• C - Break Statement
• C - Continue Statement
• C - goto Statement
• Functions in C
• C - Functions
• C - Main Function
• C - Function call by Value
• C - Function call by reference
• C - Nested Functions
• C - Variadic Functions
• C - User-Defined Functions
• C - Callback Function
• C - Return Statement
• C - Recursion
• Scope Rules in C
• C - Scope Rules
• C - Static Variables
• C - Global Variables
• Arrays in C
• C - Properties of Array
• C - Multi-Dimensional Arrays
• C - Passing Arrays to Function
• C - Return Array from Function
• C - Variable Length Arrays
• Pointers in C
• C - Pointers
• C - Pointers and Arrays
• C - Applications of Pointers
• C - Pointer Arithmetics
• C - Array of Pointers
• C - Pointer to Pointer
• C - Passing Pointers to Functions
• C - Return Pointer from Functions
• C - Function Pointers
• C - Pointer to an Array
• C - Pointers to Structures
• C - Chain of Pointers
• C - Pointer vs Array
• C - Character Pointers and Functions
• C - NULL Pointer
• C - void Pointer
• C - Dangling Pointers
• C - Dereference Pointer
• C - Near, Far and Huge Pointers
• C - Initialization of Pointer Arrays
• C - Pointers vs. Multi-dimensional Arrays
• Strings in C
• C - Strings
• C - Array of Strings
• C - Special Characters
• C Structures and Unions
• C - Structures
• C - Structures and Functions
• C - Arrays of Structures
• C - Self-Referential Structures
• C - Lookup Tables
• C - Dot (.) Operator
• C - Enumeration (or enum)
• C - Structure Padding and Packing
• C - Nested Structures
• C - Anonymous Structure and Union
• C - Bit Fields
• C - Typedef
• File Handling in C
• C - Input & Output
• C - File I/O (File Handling)
• C Preprocessors
• C - Preprocessors
• C - Pragmas
• C - Preprocessor Operators
• C - Header Files
• Memory Management in C
• C - Memory Management
• C - Memory Address
• C - Storage Classes
• Miscellaneous Topics
• C - Error Handling
• C - Variable Arguments
• C - Command Execution
• C - Math Functions
• C - Static Keyword
• C - Random Number Generation
• C - Command Line Arguments
• C Programming Resources
• C - Questions & Answers
• C - Quick Guide
• C - Cheat Sheet
• C - Useful Resources
• C - Discussion
• Selected Reading
• UPSC IAS Exams Notes
• Developer's Best Practices
• Questions and Answers
• Effective Resume Writing
• HR Interview Questions
• Computer Glossary

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 −

This browser is no longer supported.

Upgrade to Microsoft Edge to take advantage of the latest features, security updates, and technical support.

C Assignment Operators

• 6 contributors

An assignment operation assigns the value of the right-hand operand to the storage location named by the left-hand operand. Therefore, the left-hand operand of an assignment operation must be a modifiable l-value. After the assignment, an assignment expression has the value of the left operand but isn't an l-value.

assignment-expression :   conditional-expression   unary-expression assignment-operator assignment-expression

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

The assignment operators in C can both transform and assign values in a single operation. C provides the following assignment operators:

In assignment, the type of the right-hand value is converted to the type of the left-hand value, and the value is stored in the left operand after the assignment has taken place. The left operand must not be an array, a function, or a constant. The specific conversion path, which depends on the two types, is outlined in detail in Type Conversions .

• Assignment Operators

Was this page helpful?

Additional resources

01 Career Opportunities

02 beginner, 03 intermediate, 04 advanced, 05 training programs, c programming assignment operators, free c programming online course with certificate, what is an assignment operator in c, types of assignment operators in c, 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, about author.