Comparison Operators
C# has comparison operators which are used when comparing values or references of variables. These operators yield boolean results. Values yielded by comparison expressions are either true if the comparison is, in fact, true, and false if the comparison is false. These comparison operators are commonly used in if statements and testing if the loop should continue or stop. The comparison operators are the key to making your programming decide and think.
Below shows a list of comparison operators in C#.
Operator | Category | Example | Result |
---|---|---|---|
== | Binary | var1 = var2 == var3 | var1 is assigned true if var2 is equal to the value of var3, false otherwise |
!= | Binary | var1 = var2 != var3 | var1 is assigned true if var2 is not equal to the value of var3, false otherwise |
< | Binary | var1 = var2 < var3 | var1 is assigned true if var2 is less than the value of var3, false otherwise |
> | Binary | var1 = var2 > var3 | var1 is assigned true if var2 is greater than the value of var3, false otherwise |
<= | Binary | var1 = var2 <= var3 | var1 is assigned true if var2 is less than or equal to the value of var3, false otherwise |
>= | Binary | var1 = var2 >= var3 | var1 is assigned true if var2 is greater than or equal to the value of var3, false otherwise |
The program below demonstrates the functionality of comparison operators.
using System;
namespace ComparisonOperators
{
class Program
{
static void Main()
{
int num1 = 10;
int num2 = 5;
Console.WriteLine("{0} == {1} : {2}", num1, num2, num1 == num2);
Console.WriteLine("{0} != {1} : {2}", num1, num2, num1 != num2);
Console.WriteLine("{0} < {1} : {2}", num1, num2, num1 < num2);
Console.WriteLine("{0} > {1} : {2}", num1, num2, num1 > num2);
Console.WriteLine("{0} <= {1} : {2}", num1, num2, num1 <= num2);
Console.WriteLine("{0} >= {1} : {2}", num1, num2, num1 >= num2);
}
}
}
Example 1
10 == 5 : False 10 != 5 : True 10 < 5 : False 10 > 5 : True 10 <= 5 : False 10 >= 5 : True
We first create two variables that will be compared. We initialize them with values. Then, we used each comparison operators to compare the two variables and print the result.
It is important to note that when doing comparisons, you must use the == operator instead of the = operator. The = operator is the assignment operator and an expression such as x = y is read as assign the value of y to x. The == operator is the equality operator which tests for equality of two values so an expression such as x == y is read as x is equal to y.