Logical operators

 

C++

Language

Standard Library Headers

Freestanding and hosted implementations

Named requirements

Language support library

Concepts library (C++20)

Diagnostics library

Utilities library

Strings library

Containers library

Iterators library

Ranges library (C++20)

Algorithms library

Numerics library

Input/output library

Localizations library

Regular expressions library (C++11)

Atomic operations library (C++11)

Thread support library (C++11)

Filesystem library (C++17)

Technical Specifications

 

C++ language

General topics
Preprocessor Comments	Keywords Escape sequences
Flow control
Conditional execution statements
if	switch
Iteration statements (loops)
for range-for (C++11)	while do-while
Jump statements
continue - break	goto - return
Functions
Function declaration
Lambda function declaration
inline specifier
Exception specifications (until C++20)
noexcept specifier (C++11)
Exceptions
throw-expression	try-catch block
Namespaces
Namespace declaration	Namespace aliases
Types
Fundamental types Enumeration types Function types	Compound types Union types
Specifiers
decltype (C++11) auto (C++11) alignas (C++11)	const/volatile constexpr (C++11)
Storage duration specifiers
Initialization
Default initialization Value initialization Zero initialization Copy initialization Direct initialization	Aggregate initialization List initialization (C++11) Constant initialization Reference initialization

Expressions
Value categories Order of evaluation	Operators Operator precedence
Alternative representations
Literals
Boolean - Integer - Floating-point
Character - String - nullptr (C++11)
User-defined (C++11)
Utilities
Attributes (C++11)
Types
typedef declaration
Type alias declaration (C++11)
Casts
Implicit conversions - Explicit conversions
static_cast - dynamic_cast
const_cast - reinterpret_cast
Memory allocation
new expression	delete expression
Classes
Class declaration Initializer lists this pointer	Access specifiers friend specifier
Class-specific function properties
Virtual function override specifier (C++11) final specifier (C++11)	explicit (C++11) static
Special member functions
Default constructor Copy constructor Move constructor (C++11)	Copy assignment Move assignment (C++11) Destructor
Templates
Class template Function template	Template specialization Parameter packs (C++11)
Miscellaneous
Inline assembly	History of C++

 

Expressions

General

value categories (lvalue, rvalue, xvalue)

order of evaluation (sequence points)

constant expressions

unevaluated expressions

primary expressions

lambda-expression(C++11)

Literals

integer literals

floating-point literals

boolean literals

character literals including escape sequences

string literals

null pointer literal(C++11)

user-defined literal(C++11)

Operators

Assignment operators: a=b, a+=b, a-=b, a*=b, a/=b, a%=b, a&=b, a|=b, a^=b, a<<=b, a>>=b

Increment and decrement: ++a, --a, a++, a--

Arithmetic operators: +a, -a, a+b, a-b, a*b, a/b, a%b, ~a, a&b, a|b, a^b, a<<b, a>>b

Logical operators: a||b, a&&b, !a

Comparison operators: a==b, a!=b, a<b, a>b, a<=b, a>=b, a<=>b(C++20)

Member access operators: a[b], *a, &a, a->b, a.b, a->*b, a.*b

Other operators: a(...), a,b, a?b:c

Default comparisons(C++20)

Alternative representations of operators

Precedence and associativity

Fold expression(C++17)

new-expression

delete-expression

throw-expression

alignof

sizeof

sizeof...(C++11)

typeid

noexcept(C++11)

Operator overloading

Conversions

Implicit conversions

const_cast

static_cast

reinterpret_cast

dynamic_cast

Explicit conversions (T)a, T(a)

User-defined conversion

 

Returns the result of a boolean operation.

Operator name	Syntax	Over​load​able	Prototype examples (for class T)
			Inside class definition	Outside class definition
negation	not a !a	Yes	bool T::operator!() const;	bool operator!(const T &a);
AND	a and b a && b	Yes	bool T::operator&&(const T2 &b) const;	bool operator&&(const T &a, const T2 &b);
inclusive OR	a or b a || b	Yes	bool T::operator||(const T2 &b) const;	bool operator||(const T &a, const T2 &b);
Notes The keyword-like forms (and,or,not) and the symbol-like forms (&&,||,!) can be used interchangeably (See alternative representations) All built-in operators return bool, and most user-defined overloads also return bool so that the user-defined operators can be used in the same manner as the built-ins. However, in a user-defined operator overload, any type can be used as return type (including void). Builtin operators && and || perform short-circuit evaluation (do not evaluate the second operand if the result is known after evaluating the first), but overloaded operators behave like regular function calls and always evaluate both operands

Explanation

The logic operator expressions have the form

! rhs	(1)
lhs && rhs	(2)
lhs || rhs	(3)

1) Logical NOT

2) Logical AND

3) Logical inclusive OR

If the operand is not bool, it is converted to bool using contextual conversion to bool: it is only well-formed if the declaration bool t(arg) is well-formed, for some invented temporary t.

The result is a bool prvalue.

For the built-in logical NOT operator, the result is true if the operand is false. Otherwise, the result is false.

For the built-in logical AND operator, the result is true if both operands are true. Otherwise, the result is false. This operator is short-circuiting: if the first operand is false, the second operand is not evaluated

For the built-in logical OR operator, the result is true if either the first or the second operand (or both) is true. This operator is short-circuiting: if the first operand is true, the second operand is not evaluated.

Note that bitwise logic operators do not perform short-circuiting.

Results

a	true	false
!a	false	true

and		a
		true	false
b	true	true	false
	false	false	false

or		a
		true	false
b	true	true	true
	false	true	false

In overload resolution against user-defined operators, the following built-in function signatures participate in overload resolution:

bool operator!(bool)
bool operator&&(bool, bool)
bool operator||(bool, bool)

Example

Run this code

#include <iostream>
#include <string>
int main()
{
    int n = 2;
    int* p = &n;
    // pointers are convertible to bool
    if(    p && *p == 2   // "*p" is safe to use after "p &&"
       || !p &&  n != 2 ) // || has lower precedence than &&
        std::cout << "true\n";
 
    // streams are also convertible to bool
    std::cout << "Enter 'quit' to quit.\n";
    for(std::string line;    std::cout << "> "
                          && std::getline(std::cin, line)
                          && line != "quit"; )
        ;
}

Output:

true
Enter 'quit' to quit.
> test
> quit

Standard library

Because the short-circuiting properties of operator&& and operator|| do not apply to overloads, and because types with boolean semantics are uncommon, only two standard library classes overload these operators:

operator!	applies a unary arithmetic operator to each element of the valarray (public member function of std::valarray<T>)
operator&&operator||	applies binary operators to each element of two valarrays, or a valarray and a value (function template)
operator!	checks if an error has occurred (synonym of fail()) (public member function of std::basic_ios<CharT,Traits>)

See also

Operator precedence

Operator overloading

Common operators
assignment	increment decrement	arithmetic	logical	comparison	member access	other
a = b a += b a -= b a *= b a /= b a %= b a &= b a |= b a ^= b a <<= b a >>= b	++a --a a++ a--	+a -a a + b a - b a * b a / b a % b ~a a & b a | b a ^ b a << b a >> b	!a a && b a || b	a == b a != b a < b a > b a <= b a >= b a <=> b	a[b] *a &a a->b a.b a->*b a.*b	a(...) a, b ? :
Special operators
static_cast converts one type to another related type dynamic_cast converts within inheritance hierarchies const_cast adds or removes cv qualifiers reinterpret_cast converts type to unrelated type C-style cast converts one type to another by a mix of static_cast, const_cast, and reinterpret_cast new creates objects with dynamic storage duration delete destructs objects previously created by the new expression and releases obtained memory area sizeof queries the size of a type sizeof... queries the size of a parameter pack (since C++11) typeid queries the type information of a type noexcept checks if an expression can throw an exception (since C++11) alignof queries alignment requirements of a type (since C++11)