Operator Keywords

The C++ standard provides operator keywords (Fig. 24.3) that can be used in place of several C++ operators. Operator keywords are useful for programmers who have keyboards that do not support certain characters such as !, &, ^, ~, |, etc.

Figure 24.3. Operator keyword alternatives to operator symbols.

Operator	Operator keyword	Description
Logical operator keywords
&&	and	logical AND
||	or	logical OR
!	not	logical NOT
Inequality operator keyword
!=	not_eq	inequality
Bitwise operator keywords
&	bitand	bitwise AND
|	bitor	bitwise inclusive OR
^	xor	bitwise exclusive OR
~	compl	bitwise complement
Bitwise assignment operator keywords
&=	and_eq	bitwise AND assignment
|=	or_eq	bitwise inclusive OR assignment
^=	xor_eq	bitwise exclusive OR assignment

Figure 24.4 demonstrates the operator keywords. This program was compiled with Microsoft Visual C++ .NET, which requires the header file (line 8) to use the operator keywords. In GNU C++, line 8 should be removed and the program should be compiled as follows:

g++ -foperator-names Fig24_04.cpp -o Fig24_04

 

Figure 24.4. Demonstrating the operator keywords.

(This item is displayed on pages 1208 - 1209 in the print version)

 1 // Fig. 24.4: fig24_04.cpp
 2 // Demonstrating operator keywords.
 3 #include 
 4 using std::boolalpha;
 5 using std::cout;
 6 using std::endl;
 7
 8 #include  // enables operator keywords in Microsoft Visual C++
 9
10 int main()
11 {
12 bool a = true;
13 bool b = false;
14 int c = 2;
15 int d = 3;
16
17 // sticky setting that causes bool values to display as true or false
18 cout << boolalpha;
19
20 cout << "a = " << a << "; b = " << b
21 << "; c = " << c << "; d = " << d;
22
23 cout << "

Logical operator keywords:";
24 cout << "
 a and a: " << ( a and a );
25 cout << "
 a and b: " << ( a and b );
26 cout << "
 a or a: " << ( a or a );
27 cout << "
 a or b: " << ( a or b );
28 cout << "
 not a: " << ( not a );
29 cout << "
 not b: " << ( not b );
30 cout << "
a not_eq b: " << ( a not_eq b );
31
32 cout << "

Bitwise operator keywords:";
33 cout << "
c bitand d: " << ( c bitand d );
34 cout << "
c bit_or d: " << ( c bitor d );
35 cout << "
 c xor d: " << ( c xor d );
36 cout << "
 compl c: " << ( compl c );
37 cout << "
c and_eq d: " << ( c and_eq d );
38 cout << "
 c or_eq d: " << ( c or_eq d );
39 cout << "
c xor_eq d: " << ( c xor_eq d ) << endl;
40 return 0;
41 } // end main

 

 a = true; b = false; c = 2; d = 3

 Logical operator keywords:
 a and a: true
 a and b: false
 a or a: true
 a or b: true
 not a: false
 not b: true
 a not_eq b: true

 Bitwise operator keywords:
 c bitand d: 2
 c bit_or d: 3
 c xor d: 1
 compl c: -3
 c and_eq d: 2
 c or_eq d: 3
 c xor_eq d: 0

 

The compiler option -foperator-names indicates that the compiler should enable use of the operator keywords in Fig. 24.3. Other compilers may not require you to include a header file or to use a compiler option to enable support for these keywords. For example, the Borland C++ 5.6.4 compiler implicitly permits these keywords.

---

The program declares and initializes two bool variables and two integer variables (lines 1215). Logical operations (lines 2430) are performed with bool variables a and b using the various logical operator keywords. Bitwise operations (lines 3339) are performed with the int variables c and d using the various bitwise operator keywords. The result of each operation is output.