Is there any operator in c which is both unary and binary?

Question

Is there any operator in c which is both unary and binary ? This question was asked in one of the interview.

Answer 1

The asterisk (*) can be used for dereferencing (unary) or multiplication (binary).

The ampersand (&) can be used for referencing (unary) or bitwise AND (binary).

The plus/minus signs (+/-) can be used for identity/negation (unary) or addition/subtraction (binary).

But, as others pointed out, those are symbols shared by different operators. Each of those operators have only one n-arity.

Answer 2

No, there isn't. Every operator is either unary, binary, or ternary.

Some unary and binary operators happen to use the same symbol :

• * for dereference and multiplication
• - for negation and subtraction
• + for identity and addition
• & for address-of and bitwise "and"

But unary and binary * are still distinct operators that happen to be spelled the same way.

Answer 3

What I think only . operator is both unary and binary in C (not specified in standard):

\n

. :- Unary: In designators of structures- {.meber1 = x, .member3 = z} (C99 and latter). Binary: Accessing structure members.

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There is no operator in C which is unary and binary as well.
Symbols , like + , - , * and & , are used as unary and binary operators but then these symbols are treated as different operators :

1. + , - Unary: i = -1 j = +1 . Binary: i = i+1 , j = j+1
2. * Unary: Dereference operator. Binary: Multiplication operator.
3. & Unary: Reference operator. Binary: Bitwise AND operator.