Search⌘ K
AI Features
Home
Courses
Modern C# and .NET Tutorial: Cross-Platform Basics

Unary and Binary Operators

Explore unary and binary operators in C# to understand how they manipulate single and multiple operands. Learn the difference between prefix and postfix unary operators and how to use common arithmetic operators for calculations. This lesson helps you write clear and predictable code using these fundamental operators.

We'll cover the following...

Operators apply simple operations such as addition and multiplication to operands such as variables and literal values. They usually return a new value that is the result of the operation, and that can be assigned to a variable.

Binary operator

Most operators are binary, meaning that they work on two operands, as shown in the following pseudo-code:

var resultOfOperation = firstOperand operator secondOperand;

Example

Examples of binary operators include adding and multiplying, as shown in the following code:

C#
int x = 5;
int y = 3;
int resultOfAdding = x + y;
int resultOfMultiplying = x * y;

Unary operator

Some operators are unary, meaning they work on a single operand, and can apply before or after the operand, as shown in the following pseudocode:

C#
var resultOfOperationAfter = onlyOperand operator;
var resultOfOperationBefore = operator onlyOperand;

Example

Examples of unary operators include incrementors and retrieving a type or its size in bytes, as shown in the following code:

C#
int x = 5;
int postfixIncrement = x++;
int prefixIncrement = ++x;
Type theTypeOfAnInteger = typeof(int);
string nameOfVariable = nameof(x);
int howManyBytesInAnInteger = sizeof(int);

Ternary Operator

A ternary operator works on three operands, as shown in the following pseudocode: ...