C Operator Precedence

 

C

Language

Type support

Dynamic memory management

Error handling

Program utilities

Date and time utilities

Strings library

Algorithms

Numerics

Input/output support

Localization support

Thread support (C11)

Atomic operations (C11)

 

C language

General topics
Preprocessor
Comments
Keywords
ASCII chart
Escape sequences
History of C
Flow control
Conditional execution statements
if statement	switch statement
Iteration statements
for loop	while loop do-while loop
Jump statements
continue statement break statement	goto statement return statement
Functions
function declaration
inline specifier
Types
fundamental types pointer types compound types enumeration types	union types function types
Specifiers
cv specifiers
storage duration specifiers
alignas specifier (C99)
Literals
integer literals character literals floating-point literals	string literals boolean literals(C99)
Expressions
order of evaluation
alternative operators
operators
operator precedence
Utilities
typedef declaration
attributes (C99)
casts
Miscellaneous
Inline assembly

 

The following table lists the precedence and associativity of C operators. Operators are listed top to bottom, in descending precedence.

Precedence	Operator	Description	Associativity
1	++ --	Suffix/postfix increment and decrement	Left-to-right
	()	Function call
	[]	Array subscripting
	.	Structure and union member access
	−>	Structure and union member access through pointer
	(type){list}	Compound literal(C99)
2	++ --	Prefix increment and decrement	Right-to-left
	+ −	Unary plus and minus
	! ~	Logical NOT and bitwise NOT
	(type)	Type cast
	*	Indirection (dereference)
	&	Address-of
	sizeof	Size-of
	_Alignof	Alignment requirement(C11)
3	* / %	Multiplication, division, and remainder	Left-to-right
4	+ −	Addition and subtraction
5	<< >>	Bitwise left shift and right shift
6	< <=	For relational operators < and ≤ respectively
	> >=	For relational operators > and ≥ respectively
7	== !=	For relational = and ≠ respectively
8	&	Bitwise AND
9	^	Bitwise XOR (exclusive or)
10	|	Bitwise OR (inclusive or)
11	&&	Logical AND
12	||	Logical OR
13	?:	Ternary conditional	Right-to-Left
14	=	Simple assignment
	+= −=	Assignment by sum and difference
	*= /= %=	Assignment by product, quotient, and remainder
	<<= >>=	Assignment by bitwise left shift and right shift
	&= ^= |=	Assignment by bitwise AND, XOR, and OR
15	,	Comma	Left-to-right

When parsing an expression, an operator which is listed on some row will be bound tighter (as if by parentheses) to its arguments than any operator that is listed on a row further below it.

Operators that are in the same cell (there may be several rows of operators listed in a cell) have the same precedence and are grouped in the given direction. For example, the expression a=b=c is parsed as a=(b=c), and not as (a=b)=c because of right-to-left associativity. Note that this does not affect the evaluation order of the subexpressions a, b, and c.