📝 Assignment & Compound Operators

Last Updated: Jan 2026

What is Assignment (=)?

The assignment operator (=) is used to store a value in a variable.
It assigns the value on the right side to the variable on the left side.

Example:

int x = 10; // x holds 10
int y = 5; // y holds 5

Compound Operator

Compound assignment operators combine an operation and assignment in one step.

Instead of writing x = x + 5, you can write x += 5.
They work for arithmetic and bitwise operations.

Operator	Meaning	Equivalent Long Form
=	Assign	x = 10
+=	Add and assign	x += 5 → x = x + 5
-=	Subtract and assign	x -= 3 → x = x - 3
*=	Multiply and assign	x = 2 → x = x 2
/=	Divide and assign (float result)	x /= 4 → x = x / 4
%=	Modulus and assign	x %= 3 → x = x % 3
&=	Bitwise AND and assign	x &= 3 → x = x & 3
\|=	Bitwise OR and assign	x \|= 2 → x = x \| 2
^=	Bitwise XOR and assign	x ^= 4 → x = x ^ 4
<<=	Left shift and assign	x <<= 1 → x = x << 1
>>=	Right shift and assign	x >>= 2 → x = x >> 2

Example

int x = 10;

x += 5; // x = x + 5
println("%d\n",x);  // 15

x -= 3; // x = x - 3
println("%d\n",x);  // 12

x *= 2; // x = x * 2
println("%d\n",x);  // 24

x /= 4; // x = x / 4
println("%d\n",x);  // 6


x = 10; // binary: 1010
x &= 6; // 1010 & 0110 = 0010 (2)
println("%d\n",x);  // 2

x |= 4; // 0010 | 0100 = 0110 (6)
println("%d\n",x);  // 6

x ^= 3; // 0110 ^ 0011 = 0101 (5)
println("%d\n",x);  // 5

Tip: Compound operators save time and reduce typing. You'll use them a lot in loops, counters, and calculations .Don't worry! For Bitwise Operator ,We will cover in upcoming section.

💡 Quick Practice

Create a variable count = 10 → add 5 using +=
Subtract 2 using -= and print result
Multiply by 3 using *=
Divide by 2 using /=
Print each result step-by-step in console

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