The Java supports the following boolean logical operators:
! (logical complement)
| (logical OR)
& (logical AND)
^ (logical exclusive OR)
Logical Complement ( ! ) Operator
This is a unary operator and the operand must always be a boolean expression. This acts as the negation operator, which negates a boolean expression as shown in the following table:
Logical OR ( | ) Operator
The logical OR operator is used to combine two boolean expressions to form a compound boolean expression. The value of any boolean expression in Java is either true or false no matter how complex it is. The following table shows the value of boolean expression obtained by combining two boolean expressions using logical OR operator.
If first boolean expression is true then value of the compound expression will be true irrespective of the value of the second boolean expression. Even then the second boolean expression is always evaluated. This is different from the conditional (short-circuit) OR operator where the second boolean expression is not evaluated if the result of the first boolean expression is true.
If both the operands of the | operator are of integer type then this operator behaves like bit-wise OR operator.
Logical AND ( & ) Operator
The logical AND operator is used to combine two boolean expressions to form a compound boolean expression. The value of any boolean expression in Java is either true or false no matter how complex it is. The following table shows the value of boolean expression obtained by combining two boolean expressions using logical AND operator.
If first boolean expression is false then value of the compound expression will be false irrespective of the value of the second boolean expression. Even then the second boolean expression is always evaluated. This is different from the conditional (short-circuit) AND operator where the second boolean expression is not evaluated if the result of the first boolean expression is false.
If both the operands of the & operator are of integer type then this operator behaves like bit-wise AND operator.
Logical Exclusive OR or XOR ( ^ ) Operator
The logical exclusive OR operator is used to combine two boolean expressions to form a compound boolean expression. The value of any boolean expression in Java is either true or false no matter how complex it is. The following table shows the value of boolean expression obtained by combining two boolean expressions using logical exclusive operator.
If both the operands of the ^ operator are of integer type then this operator behaves like bit-wise exclusive OR operator.
Boolean Logical Assignment Operators
The Java supports the following Boolean Logical Assignment Operators:
&=, |=, ^=
An assignment operator has the following syntax:
<variable><operator> = <expression>
The above assignment is equivalent to:
<variable> = <variable> <operator> (<expression>)
For example the assignment:
b &= b1 is equivalent to b = b & b1
Here b is a boolean variable and b1 is a boolean expression
! (logical complement)
| (logical OR)
& (logical AND)
^ (logical exclusive OR)
Logical Complement ( ! ) Operator
This is a unary operator and the operand must always be a boolean expression. This acts as the negation operator, which negates a boolean expression as shown in the following table:
| Boolean Expression(b) | Logical Complement(!b) |
| true | false |
| false | true |
Logical OR ( | ) Operator
The logical OR operator is used to combine two boolean expressions to form a compound boolean expression. The value of any boolean expression in Java is either true or false no matter how complex it is. The following table shows the value of boolean expression obtained by combining two boolean expressions using logical OR operator.
| Boolean Expression(b1) | Logical Complement(b2) | Logical Complement(b1 | b2) |
| false | false | false |
| false | true | true |
| true | false | true |
| true | true | true |
If first boolean expression is true then value of the compound expression will be true irrespective of the value of the second boolean expression. Even then the second boolean expression is always evaluated. This is different from the conditional (short-circuit) OR operator where the second boolean expression is not evaluated if the result of the first boolean expression is true.
If both the operands of the | operator are of integer type then this operator behaves like bit-wise OR operator.
Logical AND ( & ) Operator
The logical AND operator is used to combine two boolean expressions to form a compound boolean expression. The value of any boolean expression in Java is either true or false no matter how complex it is. The following table shows the value of boolean expression obtained by combining two boolean expressions using logical AND operator.
| Boolean Expression(b1) | Logical Complement(b2) | Logical Complement(b1 & b2) |
| false | false | false |
| false | true | false |
| true | false | false |
| true | true | true |
If first boolean expression is false then value of the compound expression will be false irrespective of the value of the second boolean expression. Even then the second boolean expression is always evaluated. This is different from the conditional (short-circuit) AND operator where the second boolean expression is not evaluated if the result of the first boolean expression is false.
If both the operands of the & operator are of integer type then this operator behaves like bit-wise AND operator.
Logical Exclusive OR or XOR ( ^ ) Operator
The logical exclusive OR operator is used to combine two boolean expressions to form a compound boolean expression. The value of any boolean expression in Java is either true or false no matter how complex it is. The following table shows the value of boolean expression obtained by combining two boolean expressions using logical exclusive operator.
| Boolean Expression(b1) | Logical Complement(b2) | Logical Complement(b1 ^ b2) |
| false | false | false |
| false | true | true |
| true | false | true |
| true | true | false |
If both the operands of the ^ operator are of integer type then this operator behaves like bit-wise exclusive OR operator.
Boolean Logical Assignment Operators
The Java supports the following Boolean Logical Assignment Operators:
&=, |=, ^=
An assignment operator has the following syntax:
<variable><operator> = <expression>
The above assignment is equivalent to:
<variable> = <variable> <operator> (<expression>)
For example the assignment:
b &= b1 is equivalent to b = b & b1
Here b is a boolean variable and b1 is a boolean expression