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 | :: |
Scope resolution | Left-to-right |
2 | ++ -- |
Suffix/postfix increment and decrement | |
type() type{} |
Functional cast | ||
() |
Function call | ||
[] |
Subscript | ||
. -> |
Member access | ||
3 | ++ -- |
Prefix increment and decrement | Right-to-left |
+ - |
Unary plus and minus | ||
! ~ |
Logical NOT and bitwise NOT | ||
(type) |
C-style cast | ||
* |
Indirection (dereference) | ||
& |
Address-of | ||
sizeof |
Size-of[note 1] | ||
new new[] |
Dynamic memory allocation | ||
delete delete[] |
Dynamic memory deallocation | ||
4 | .* ->* |
Pointer-to-member | Left-to-right |
5 | * / % |
Multiplication, division, and remainder | |
6 | + - |
Addition and subtraction | |
7 | << >> |
Bitwise left shift and right shift | |
8 | < <= |
For relational operators < and ≤ respectively | |
> >= |
For relational operators > and ≥ respectively | ||
9 | == != |
For relational operators = and ≠ respectively | |
10 | & |
Bitwise AND | |
11 | ^ |
Bitwise XOR (exclusive or) | |
12 | | |
Bitwise OR (inclusive or) | |
13 | && |
Logical AND | |
14 | || |
Logical OR | |
15 | ?: |
Ternary conditional[note 2] | Right-to-left |
throw |
throw operator | ||
= |
Direct assignment (provided by default for C++ classes) | ||
+= -= |
Compound assignment by sum and difference | ||
*= /= %= |
Compound assignment by product, quotient, and remainder | ||
<<= >>= |
Compound assignment by bitwise left shift and right shift | ||
&= ^= |= |
Compound assignment by bitwise AND, XOR, and OR | ||
16 | , |
Comma | Left-to-right |
sizeof
can't be a C-style type cast: the expression sizeof (int) * p
is unambiguously interpreted as(sizeof(int)) * p
, but not sizeof((int)*p)
.?
and :
) is parsed as if parenthesized: its precedence relative to ?:
is ignored.When parsing an expression, an operator which is listed on some row of the table above with a precedence will be bound tighter (as if by parentheses) to its arguments than any operator that is listed on a row further below it with a lower precedence. For example, the expressions std::cout << a & b and *p++ are parsed as (std::cout << a) & b and *(p++), and not as std::cout << (a & b) or (*p)++.
Operators that have the same precedence are bound to their arguments in the direction of their associativity. 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 of assignment, but a + b - c is parsed (a + b) - c and not a + (b - c) because of left-to-right associativity of addition and subtraction.
Associativity specification is redundant for unary operators and is only shown for completeness: unary prefix operators always associate right-to-left (delete ++*p is delete(++(*p))) and unary postfix operators always associate left-to-right (a[1][2]++ is ((a[1])[2])++). Note that the associativity is meaningful for member access operators, even though they are grouped with unary postfix operators: a.b++ is parsed (a.b)++ and not a.(b++))
Operator precedence is unaffected by operator overloading.
Precedence and associativity are compile-time concepts and are independent from order of evaluation, which is a runtime concept.
The standard itself doesn't specify precedence levels. They are derived from the grammar.
const_cast, static_cast, dynamic_cast, reinterpret_cast, typeid, sizeof..., noexcept and alignof are not included since they are never ambiguous.
Some of the operators have alternate spellings (e.g., and for &&
, or for ||
, not for !
, etc.).
Relative precedence of the ternary conditional and assignment operators differs between C and C++: in C, assignment is not allowed on the right-hand side of a ternary conditional operator, so e = a < d ? a++ : a = dcannot be parsed. Many C compilers use a modified grammar where ?:
has higher precedence than =
, which parses that as e = ( ((a < d) ? (a++) : a) = d ) (which then fails to compile because ?:
is never lvalue in C and =
requires lvalue on the left). In C++, ?:
and =
have equal precedence and group right-to-left, so that e = a < d ? a++ : a = d parses as e = ((a < d) ? (a++) : (a = d)).