what is meant by assignment in java

• Java Arrays
• Java Strings
• Java Collection
• Java 8 Tutorial
• Java Multithreading
• Java Exception Handling
• Java Programs
• Java Project
• Java Collections Interview
• Java Interview Questions
• Spring Boot
• Java Tutorial

Overview of Java

• Introduction to Java
• The Complete History of Java Programming Language
• C++ vs Java vs Python
• How to Download and Install Java for 64 bit machine?
• Setting up the environment in Java
• How to Download and Install Eclipse on Windows?
• JDK in Java
• How JVM Works - JVM Architecture?
• Differences between JDK, JRE and JVM
• Just In Time Compiler
• Difference between JIT and JVM in Java
• Difference between Byte Code and Machine Code
• How is Java platform independent?

Basics of Java

• Java Basic Syntax
• Java Hello World Program
• Java Data Types
• Primitive data type vs. Object data type in Java with Examples
• Java Identifiers

Operators in Java

• Java Variables
• Scope of Variables In Java

Wrapper Classes in Java

Input/output in java.

• How to Take Input From User in Java?
• Scanner Class in Java
• Java.io.BufferedReader Class in Java
• Difference Between Scanner and BufferedReader Class in Java
• Ways to read input from console in Java
• System.out.println in Java
• Difference between print() and println() in Java
• Formatted Output in Java using printf()
• Fast I/O in Java in Competitive Programming

Flow Control in Java

• Decision Making in Java (if, if-else, switch, break, continue, jump)
• Java if statement with Examples
• Java if-else
• Java if-else-if ladder with Examples
• Loops in Java
• For Loop in Java
• Java while loop with Examples
• Java do-while loop with Examples
• For-each loop in Java
• Continue Statement in Java
• Break statement in Java
• Usage of Break keyword in Java
• return keyword in Java
• Java Arithmetic Operators with Examples
• Java Unary Operator with Examples

Java Assignment Operators with Examples

• Java Relational Operators with Examples
• Java Logical Operators with Examples
• Java Ternary Operator with Examples
• Bitwise Operators in Java
• Strings in Java
• String class in Java
• Java.lang.String class in Java | Set 2
• Why Java Strings are Immutable?
• StringBuffer class in Java
• StringBuilder Class in Java with Examples
• String vs StringBuilder vs StringBuffer in Java
• StringTokenizer Class in Java
• StringTokenizer Methods in Java with Examples | Set 2
• StringJoiner Class in Java
• Arrays in Java
• Arrays class in Java
• Multidimensional Arrays in Java
• Different Ways To Declare And Initialize 2-D Array in Java
• Jagged Array in Java
• Final Arrays in Java
• Reflection Array Class in Java
• util.Arrays vs reflect.Array in Java with Examples

OOPS in Java

• Object Oriented Programming (OOPs) Concept in Java
• Why Java is not a purely Object-Oriented Language?
• Classes and Objects in Java
• Naming Conventions in Java
• Java Methods

Access Modifiers in Java

• Java Constructors
• Four Main Object Oriented Programming Concepts of Java

Inheritance in Java

Abstraction in java, encapsulation in java, polymorphism in java, interfaces in java.

• 'this' reference in Java
• Inheritance and Constructors in Java
• Java and Multiple Inheritance
• Interfaces and Inheritance in Java
• Association, Composition and Aggregation in Java
• Comparison of Inheritance in C++ and Java
• abstract keyword in java
• Abstract Class in Java
• Difference between Abstract Class and Interface in Java
• Control Abstraction in Java with Examples
• Difference Between Data Hiding and Abstraction in Java
• Difference between Abstraction and Encapsulation in Java with Examples
• Difference between Inheritance and Polymorphism
• Dynamic Method Dispatch or Runtime Polymorphism in Java
• Difference between Compile-time and Run-time Polymorphism in Java

Constructors in Java

• Copy Constructor in Java
• Constructor Overloading in Java
• Constructor Chaining In Java with Examples
• Private Constructors and Singleton Classes in Java

Methods in Java

• Static methods vs Instance methods in Java
• Abstract Method in Java with Examples
• Overriding in Java
• Method Overloading in Java
• Difference Between Method Overloading and Method Overriding in Java
• Differences between Interface and Class in Java
• Functional Interfaces in Java
• Nested Interface in Java
• Marker interface in Java
• Comparator Interface in Java with Examples
• Need of Wrapper Classes in Java
• Different Ways to Create the Instances of Wrapper Classes in Java
• Character Class in Java
• Java.Lang.Byte class in Java
• Java.Lang.Short class in Java
• Java.lang.Integer class in Java
• Java.Lang.Long class in Java
• Java.Lang.Float class in Java
• Java.Lang.Double Class in Java
• Java.lang.Boolean Class in Java
• Autoboxing and Unboxing in Java
• Type conversion in Java with Examples

Keywords in Java

• Java Keywords
• Important Keywords in Java
• Super Keyword in Java
• final Keyword in Java
• static Keyword in Java
• enum in Java
• transient keyword in Java
• volatile Keyword in Java
• final, finally and finalize in Java
• Public vs Protected vs Package vs Private Access Modifier in Java
• Access and Non Access Modifiers in Java

Memory Allocation in Java

• Java Memory Management
• How are Java objects stored in memory?
• Stack vs Heap Memory Allocation
• How many types of memory areas are allocated by JVM?
• Garbage Collection in Java
• Types of JVM Garbage Collectors in Java with implementation details
• Memory leaks in Java
• Java Virtual Machine (JVM) Stack Area

Classes of Java

• Understanding Classes and Objects in Java
• Singleton Method Design Pattern in Java
• Object Class in Java
• Inner Class in Java
• Throwable Class in Java with Examples

Packages in Java

• Packages In Java
• How to Create a Package in Java?
• Java.util Package in Java
• Java.lang package in Java
• Java.io Package in Java
• Java Collection Tutorial

Exception Handling in Java

• Exceptions in Java
• Types of Exception in Java with Examples
• Checked vs Unchecked Exceptions in Java
• Java Try Catch Block
• Flow control in try catch finally in Java
• throw and throws in Java
• User-defined Custom Exception in Java
• Chained Exceptions in Java
• Null Pointer Exception In Java
• Exception Handling with Method Overriding in Java
• Multithreading in Java
• Lifecycle and States of a Thread in Java
• Java Thread Priority in Multithreading
• Main thread in Java
• Java.lang.Thread Class in Java
• Runnable interface in Java
• Naming a thread and fetching name of current thread in Java
• What does start() function do in multithreading in Java?
• Difference between Thread.start() and Thread.run() in Java
• Thread.sleep() Method in Java With Examples
• Synchronization in Java
• Importance of Thread Synchronization in Java
• Method and Block Synchronization in Java
• Lock framework vs Thread synchronization in Java
• Difference Between Atomic, Volatile and Synchronized in Java
• Deadlock in Java Multithreading
• Deadlock Prevention And Avoidance
• Difference Between Lock and Monitor in Java Concurrency
• Reentrant Lock in Java

File Handling in Java

• Java.io.File Class in Java
• Java Program to Create a New File
• Different ways of Reading a text file in Java
• Java Program to Write into a File
• Delete a File Using Java
• File Permissions in Java
• FileWriter Class in Java
• Java.io.FileDescriptor in Java
• Java.io.RandomAccessFile Class Method | Set 1
• Regular Expressions in Java
• Regex Tutorial - How to write Regular Expressions?
• Matcher pattern() method in Java with Examples
• Pattern pattern() method in Java with Examples
• Quantifiers in Java
• java.lang.Character class methods | Set 1
• Java IO : Input-output in Java with Examples
• Java.io.Reader class in Java
• Java.io.Writer Class in Java
• Java.io.FileInputStream Class in Java
• FileOutputStream in Java
• Java.io.BufferedOutputStream class in Java
• Java Networking
• TCP/IP Model
• User Datagram Protocol (UDP)
• Differences between IPv4 and IPv6
• Difference between Connection-oriented and Connection-less Services
• Socket Programming in Java
• java.net.ServerSocket Class in Java
• URL Class in Java with Examples

JDBC - Java Database Connectivity

• Introduction to JDBC (Java Database Connectivity)
• JDBC Drivers
• Establishing JDBC Connection in Java
• Types of Statements in JDBC
• JDBC Tutorial
• Java 8 Features - Complete Tutorial

Operators constitute the basic building block of any programming language. Java too provides many types of operators which can be used according to the need to perform various calculations and functions, be it logical, arithmetic, relational, etc. They are classified based on the functionality they provide.

Types of Operators: 

• Arithmetic Operators
• Unary Operators
• Assignment Operator
• Relational Operators
• Logical Operators
• Ternary Operator
• Bitwise Operators
• Shift Operators

This article explains all that one needs to know regarding Assignment Operators. 

Assignment Operators

These operators are used to assign values to a variable. The left side operand of the assignment operator is a variable, and the right side operand of the assignment operator is a value. The value on the right side must be of the same data type of the operand on the left side. Otherwise, the compiler will raise an error. This means that the assignment operators have right to left associativity, i.e., the value given on the right-hand side of the operator is assigned to the variable on the left. Therefore, the right-hand side value must be declared before using it or should be a constant. The general format of the assignment operator is, 

Types of Assignment Operators in Java

The Assignment Operator is generally of two types. They are:

1. Simple Assignment Operator: The Simple Assignment Operator is used with the “=” sign where the left side consists of the operand and the right side consists of a value. The value of the right side must be of the same data type that has been defined on the left side.

2. Compound Assignment Operator: The Compound Operator is used where +,-,*, and / is used along with the = operator.

Let’s look at each of the assignment operators and how they operate: 

1. (=) operator: 

This is the most straightforward assignment operator, which is used to assign the value on the right to the variable on the left. This is the basic definition of an assignment operator and how it functions. 

Syntax:  

Example:  

2. (+=) operator: 

This operator is a compound of ‘+’ and ‘=’ operators. It operates by adding the current value of the variable on the left to the value on the right and then assigning the result to the operand on the left. 

Note: The compound assignment operator in Java performs implicit type casting. Let’s consider a scenario where x is an int variable with a value of 5. int x = 5; If you want to add the double value 4.5 to the integer variable x and print its value, there are two methods to achieve this: Method 1: x = x + 4.5 Method 2: x += 4.5 As per the previous example, you might think both of them are equal. But in reality, Method 1 will throw a runtime error stating the “i ncompatible types: possible lossy conversion from double to int “, Method 2 will run without any error and prints 9 as output.

Reason for the Above Calculation

Method 1 will result in a runtime error stating “incompatible types: possible lossy conversion from double to int.” The reason is that the addition of an int and a double results in a double value. Assigning this double value back to the int variable x requires an explicit type casting because it may result in a loss of precision. Without the explicit cast, the compiler throws an error. Method 2 will run without any error and print the value 9 as output. The compound assignment operator += performs an implicit type conversion, also known as an automatic narrowing primitive conversion from double to int . It is equivalent to x = (int) (x + 4.5) , where the result of the addition is explicitly cast to an int . The fractional part of the double value is truncated, and the resulting int value is assigned back to x . It is advisable to use Method 2 ( x += 4.5 ) to avoid runtime errors and to obtain the desired output.

Same automatic narrowing primitive conversion is applicable for other compound assignment operators as well, including -= , *= , /= , and %= .

3. (-=) operator: 

This operator is a compound of ‘-‘ and ‘=’ operators. It operates by subtracting the variable’s value on the right from the current value of the variable on the left and then assigning the result to the operand on the left. 

4. (*=) operator:

 This operator is a compound of ‘*’ and ‘=’ operators. It operates by multiplying the current value of the variable on the left to the value on the right and then assigning the result to the operand on the left. 

5. (/=) operator: 

This operator is a compound of ‘/’ and ‘=’ operators. It operates by dividing the current value of the variable on the left by the value on the right and then assigning the quotient to the operand on the left. 

6. (%=) operator: 

This operator is a compound of ‘%’ and ‘=’ operators. It operates by dividing the current value of the variable on the left by the value on the right and then assigning the remainder to the operand on the left. 

Please Login to comment...

Similar reads.

• Java-Operators

Improve your Coding Skills with Practice

What kind of Experience do you want to share?

Java Assignment Operators

Java programming tutorial index.

The Java Assignment Operators are used when you want to assign a value to the expression. The assignment operator denoted by the single equal sign = .

In a Java assignment statement, any expression can be on the right side and the left side must be a variable name. For example, this does not mean that "a" is equal to "b", instead, it means assigning the value of 'b' to 'a'. It is as follows:

Java also has the facility of chain assignment operators, where we can specify a single value for multiple variables.

JavaScript disabled. A lot of the features of the site won't work. Find out how to turn on JavaScript  HERE .

• Fundamentals
• Objects & Classes
• OO Concepts
• API Contents
• Input & Output
• Collections
• Concurrency
• Swing & RMI
• Certification

Assignment Operators J8 Home   «   Assignment Operators

• <<    Relational & Logical Operators
• Bitwise Logical Operators     >>

Symbols used for mathematical and logical manipulation that are recognized by the compiler are commonly known as operators in Java. In the third of five lessons on operators we look at the assignment operators available in Java.

Assignment Operators Overview  Top

The single equal sign = is used for assignment in Java and we have been using this throughout the lessons so far. This operator is fairly self explanatory and takes the form variable = expression; . A point to note here is that the type of variable must be compatible with the type of expression .

Shorthand Assignment Operators

The shorthand assignment operators allow us to write compact code that is implemented more efficiently.

Automatic Type Conversion, Assignment Rules  Top

The following table shows which types can be assigned to which other types, of course we can assign to the same type so these boxes are greyed out.

When using the table use a row for the left assignment and a column for the right assignment. So in the highlighted permutations byte = int won't convert and int = byte will convert.

Casting Incompatible Types  Top

The above table isn't the end of the story though as Java allows us to cast incompatible types. A cast instructs the compiler to convert one type to another enforcing an explicit type conversion.

A cast takes the form     target = (target-type) expression .

There are a couple of things to consider when casting incompatible types:

• With narrowing conversions such as an int to a short there may be a loss of precision if the range of the int exceeds the range of a short as the high order bits will be removed.
• When casting a floating-point type to an integer type the fractional component is lost through truncation.
• The target-type can be the same type as the target or a narrowing conversion type.
• The boolean type is not only incompatible but also inconvertible with other types.

Lets look at some code to see how casting works and the affect it has on values:

Running the Casting class produces the following output:

The first thing to note is we got a clean compile because of the casts, all the type conversions would fail otherwise. You might be suprised by some of the results shown in the screenshot above, for instance some of the values have become negative. Because we are truncating everything to a byte we are losing not only any fractional components and bits outside the range of a byte , but in some cases the signed bit as well. Casting can be very useful but just be aware of the implications to values when you enforce explicit type conversion.

Related Quiz

Fundamentals Quiz 8 - Assignment Operators Quiz

Lesson 9 Complete

In this lesson we looked at the assignment operators used in Java.

What's Next?

In the next lesson we look at the bitwise logical operators used in Java.

Getting Started

Code structure & syntax, java variables, primitives - boolean & char data types, primitives - numeric data types, method scope, arithmetic operators, relational & logical operators, assignment operators, assignment operators overview, automatic type conversion, casting incompatible types, bitwise logical operators, bitwise shift operators, if construct, switch construct, for construct, while construct.

Java 8 Tutorials

Java Assignment Operators

Assignment operators are used to assign a value to a variable . The Java programming language features a number of assignment operators, which can be used to perform a variety of operations before assignment. The simple assignment operator uses an equals ‘ = ‘ symbol. The following table shows the assignment operators available in Java:

Simple Assignment Operator

The simple assignment operator is used to assign a value to a variable. It uses the equal ‘=’ symbol.

Other Assignment Operators

There are a number of other assignment operators, which allow us to perform mathematical or bitwise operations on a value prior to assignment. For example, the ‘+=’ operator allows us to add to and re-assign a value to a variable:

In the above example, the expression ‘a +=5’ results in the value of the a variable being increased by 5. We can use many of the other assignment operators in a similar fashion:

Java Tutorial

Control statements, java object class, java inheritance, java polymorphism, java abstraction, java encapsulation, java oops misc.

• Send your Feedback to [email protected]

Help Others, Please Share

Learn Latest Tutorials

Transact-SQL

Reinforcement Learning

R Programming

React Native

Python Design Patterns

Python Pillow

Python Turtle

Preparation

Verbal Ability

Interview Questions

Company Questions

Trending Technologies

Artificial Intelligence

Cloud Computing

Data Science

Machine Learning

B.Tech / MCA

Data Structures

Operating System

Computer Network

Compiler Design

Computer Organization

Discrete Mathematics

Ethical Hacking

Computer Graphics

Software Engineering

Web Technology

Cyber Security

C Programming

Control System

Data Mining

Data Warehouse