C++ Built-in Operators, Precedence and Associativity

The C++ language includes all C operators and adds several new operators. Operators specify an evaluation to be performed on one or more operands.

Operator precedence specifies the order of operations in expressions that contain more than one operator. Operator associativity specifies whether, in an expression that contains multiple operators with the same precedence, an operand is grouped with the one on its left or the one on its right. The following table shows the precedence and associativity of C++ operators (from highest to lowest precedence). Operators with the same precedence number have equal precedence unless another relationship is explicitly forced by parentheses.

C++ Operator Precedence and Associativity

Operator Description	Operator
Group 1 precedence, no associativity
Scope resolution	::
Group 2 precedence, left to right associativity
Member selection (object or pointer)	. or –>
Array subscript	[ ]
Function call	( )
Postfix increment	++
Postfix decrement	––
Type name	typeid( )
Constant type conversion	const_cast
Dynamic type conversion	dynamic_cast
Reinterpreted type conversion	reinterpret_cast
Static type conversion	static_cast
Group 3 precedence, right to left associativity
Size of object or type	sizeof
Prefix increment	++
Prefix decrement	––
One's complement	~
Logical not	!
Unary negation	-
Unary plus	+
Address-of	&
Indirection	*
Create object	new
Destroy object	delete
Cast	Cast: ()
Group 4 precedence, left to right associativity
Pointer-to-member (objects or pointers)	.* or –>*
Group 5 precedence, left to right associativity
Multiplication	*
Division	/
Modulus	%
Group 6 precedence, left to right associativity
Addition	+
Subtraction	–
Group 7 precedence, left to right associativity
Left shift	<<
Right shift	>>
Group 8 precedence, left to right associativity
Less than	<
Greater than	>
Less than or equal to	<=
Greater than or equal to	>=
Group 9 precedence, left to right associativity
Equality	==
Inequality	!=
Group 10 precedence left to right associativity
Bitwise AND	&
Group 11 precedence, left to right associativity
Bitwise exclusive OR	^
Group 12 precedence, left to right associativity
Bitwise inclusive OR	|
Group 13 precedence, left to right associativity
Logical AND	&&
Group 14 precedence, left to right associativity
Logical OR	||
Group 15 precedence, right to left associativity
Conditional	? :
Group 16 precedence, right to left associativity
Assignment	=
Multiplication assignment	*=
Division assignment	/=
Modulus assignment	%=
Addition assignment	+=
Subtraction assignment	–=
Left-shift assignment	<<=
Right-shift assignment	>>=
Bitwise AND assignment	&=
Bitwise inclusive OR assignment	|=
Bitwise exclusive OR assignment	^=
Group 17 precedence, right to left associativity
throw expression	throw
Group 18 precedence, left to right associativity
Comma	,

See Also