Operators

= is the simple assignment operator. In assignment operations = is used differently from its normal algebraic use.

X=X+5 means that the variable X is 'assigned' the value that results from adding 5 to its existing value. So X becomes X+5.

The + operator can also be used to join strings together as was seen in an earlier example. This code sample shows how.

//declare strings

String str1 = "This string has ";

String str2= "been concat";

String str3="enated.";

//Join strings together

String result = str1+str2+str3; //result = "This string has been concatenated."

You can also concatenate a text string and a value to become a text string.

Often in programming you want to add or subtract 1 from a variable. This happens so often that there are special operators for this.

x++; is equivalent to x=x+1;

y--; is equivalent to y=y-1;

You can also use incrementing in assignment operations.

z=x++ means that z is assigned the value of x, then x is incremented.

z=++x means that x is incremented, then the new value is assigned to z.