C++ Relational Operators

Relational operators (also called comparison operators) compare two values or variables and return a Boolean result: true if the specified relationship holds, or false otherwise. They are fundamental in decision-making and control flow.

There are 6 relational operators in C++:

• == (equal to)
• != (not equal to)
• > (greater than)
• < (less than)
• >= (greater than or equal to)
• <= (less than or equal to)

Let’s explore each of them in detail.

EQUAL TO (==) Operator

The equal to ( ==) operator determines whether two values are equal. It returns true if the values are equal and false if they are not.

NOT EQUAL TO (!=) Operator

The not equal to (!=) operator determines whether two values are unequal. It returns true if they are not equal and false if they are equal.

GREATER THAN (>) Operator

The greater than (>) operator determines whether the left operand in an expression is greater than the right operand and returns true if so, false if not.

LESS THAN (<) Operator

The less than (<) operator determines whether the left operand in an expression is less than the right operand and returns true if so, false if not.

GREATER THAN OR EQUAL TO (>=) Operator

The greater than or equal to (>=) operator returns true if the left operand in an expression is greater than or equal to the right operand. Otherwise it returns false.

LESS THAN OR EQUAL TO (<=) Operator

The less than or equal to (<=) operator returns true if the left operand in an expression is less than or equal to the right operand. Otherwise it returns false.

Example

In this example, integers and floats are compared using relational operators, showing how each expression evaluates to true or false:

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

int main() {
  int a = 5;
  int b = 10;
  float c = 5.0;

  cout << "a = 5, b = 10, c = 5.0\n";
  cout << "True = 1, False = 0\n\n";

  cout << "(a == c) equals " << (a == c) << "\n";
  cout << "(b != a) equals " << (b != a) << "\n";
  cout << "(b > a) equals " << (b > a) << "\n";
  cout << "(a < b) equals " << (a < b) << "\n";
  cout << "(a >= c) equals " << (a >= c) << "\n";
  cout << "(b <= a) equals " << (b <= a) << "\n";

  return 0;
}

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The output of this code is:

a = 5, b = 10, c = 5.0
True = 1, False = 0

(a == c) equals 1
(b != a) equals 1
(b > a) equals 1
(a < b) equals 1
(a >= c) equals 1
(b <= a) equals 0

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Codebyte Example

In this example, multiple relational operators are applied to integer variables to demonstrate element-wise comparisons and their Boolean results:

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