Boolean Logical Operator

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What Does Boolean Logical Operator Mean?

A Boolean logical operator in the context of C# programming language is an operator used to perform Boolean logic upon two Boolean expressions.

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Boolean logical operators return Boolean results (true or false) and take Boolean values as operands. While performing Boolean logic, the expression on the left is evaluated, followed by the expression on the right. The two expressions are finally evaluated in the context of the Boolean logical operator between them. The return value is of Boolean type and based on the operator type used.

Techopedia Explains Boolean Logical Operator

Boolean logical operators can be used to test or adjust the value of a Boolean variable. The result of the expression using these operators can be used in conditional statements to control the program flow through the code.

Boolean logical operators have precedence in the order shown below:

  1. Logical AND (&)
  2. Logical XOR (^)
  3. Logical OR (|)

It is vital to understand the difference between the & and && operators when they are used in an expression where two conditions have to be evaluated. While the & operator always executes both conditions, && does not execute the second on failure of the first. The || operator works similar to && by skipping the conditions after the first, if the first condition is true. Hence, && and || (referred to as conditional logical operators) are called short circuit operators.

The ^ operator works in a similar way to |. The | and || operators (and & and && operators) are not interchangeable since they operate differently.

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Margaret Rouse
Technology Specialist
Margaret Rouse
Technology Specialist

Margaret is an award-winning writer and educator known for her ability to explain complex technical topics to a non-technical business audience. Over the past twenty years, her IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles in the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret’s idea of ​​a fun day is to help IT and business professionals to learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.