Type Conversion ,Type Casting, Operator
Precedence and Associativity in C
Gaurav Kr. suman 4/30/20 MAT09
The type conversion in C is basically converting one type of data type to other to
perform some operation. The conversion is done only between those datatypes
wherein the conversion is possible
There are two types of type conversion:
This type of conversion is usually performed by the compiler when necessary without
any commands by the user. Thus it is also called "Automatic Type Conversion".
• Done by the compiler on its own, without any external trigger from the user.
• Generally takes place when in an expression more than one data type is
present. In such condition type conversion (type promotion) takes place to
avoid lose of data.
• All the data types of the variables are upgraded to the data type of the
variable with largest data type.
Now, let’s focus on some examples to further understand about type conversions in
C.
Example 1
int a = 20;
double b = 20.5;
a + b;
Here, first operand is int type and other is of type double. So, as per rule, the
variable a will be converted to double. Therefore, the final answer is double a + b =
40.500000.
Example 2
char ch='a';
int a =13;
a+c;
Here, first operand is char type and other is of type int. So, as per rule ,
the char variable will be converted to int type during the operation and the final
answer will be of type int. We know the ASCII value for ch is 97. Therefore, final
answer is a + c = 97 + 13 = 110.
For easy to understanding follow the flowchart given below, in which datatypes have
been arranged in a hierarchy of highest to the lowest rank.
1|Page
Explicit type conversion rules out the use of compiler for converting one data
type to another instead the user explicitly defines within the program the
datatype of the operands in the expression. This process is also called type casting
and it is user defined. Here the user can type cast the result to make it of a particular data
type.
Converting one datatype into another is known as type casting or, type-conversion.
For example, if you want to store a 'long' value into a simple integer then you can
type cast 'long' to 'int'. You can convert the values from one type to another explicitly
using the cast operator
Syntax:
(type_name) expression
2|Page
without Type casting
#include <stdio.h>
main ()
{
int a;
a = 15/6;
printf("%d",a);
}
Output:
the above C program, 15/6 alone will produce integer value as 2.
After Type casting
#include <stdio.h>
void main ()
{
float a;
a = (float) 15/6;
printf("%f",a);
}
Output
After type cast is done before division to retain float value 2.500000.
Operator precedence determines which operator is performed first in an expression
with more than one operators with different precedence.
For example 100-2*30 would yield 40, because it is evaluated as 100 – (2*30) and
not (100-2)*30. The reason is that multiplication * has higher precedence than
subtraction(-).
Operators Associativity is used when two operators of same precedence appear in
an expression. Associativity can be either Left to Right or Right to Left.
3|Page
For example multiplication and division arithmetic operators have same precedence,
lets say we have an expression 5*2/10, this expression would be evaluated as
(5*2)/10 because the associativity is left to right for these operators. Similarly 20/2*5
would be calculated as (20*2)/5.
OPERATOR DESCRIPTION ASSOCIATIVITY
() Parentheses (function call) left-to-right
[] Brackets (array subscript)
. Member selection via object name
-> Member selection via pointer
++ — Postfix increment/decrement
++ — Prefix increment/decrement right-to-left
+–
Unary plus/minus
!~
Logical negation/bitwise
(type)
complement
*
& Cast (convert value to temporary
sizeof value of type)
Dereference
Address (of operand)
Determine size in bytes on this
implementation
* / % Multiplication/division/modulus left-to-right
+ – Addition/subtraction left-to-right
<< >> Bitwise shift left, Bitwise shift right left-to-right
4|Page
< <= Relational less than/less than or left-to-right
> >= equal to
Relational greater
than/greater than or equal to
== != Relational is equal to/is not equal left-to-right
to
& Bitwise AND left-to-right
^ Bitwise exclusive OR left-to-right
| Bitwise inclusive OR left-to-right
&& Logical AND left-to-right
|| Logical OR left-to-right
?: Ternary conditional right-to-left
= Assignment right-to-left
+= -= Addition/subtraction assignment
*= /= Multiplication/division assignment
%= &= Modulus/bitwise AND assignment
^= |= Bitwise exclusive/inclusive OR
<<= >>= assignment
Bitwise shift left/right assignment
, Comma (separate expressions) left-to-right
5|Page
