Operators

Operators are used to combine metrics to create new expressions.

The following types are operators can be used in expressions:

• Arithmetic operators

  The most commonly used operators that are used to add, divide, subtract, and multiply metrics to create new expressions.

• Logic Operators

  Used in conditional expressions to select the branches of an expression that is based on whether a condition is true or false.

Applies To

General Expressions.

Description

Operators are used in expressions for arithmetic or logical operations. The two types of operators are unary and binary. Unary operators use one operand in the format:

operand operator

Binary operators use two operands in the format:

operand1 operator operand2

Unary operators are right associative; binary operators are left associative. The following expression must be read as the one that follows:

a - b - c < -d 

((a - b) - c) < (-d)

Type Casting

Some operators can, depending on their operands, cause conversion of the operand value from one type to another. This process is known as implicit casting. Most binary operators use a set of standard type conversions whereby if either operand is of type FLOAT, then the other operand is converted to a FLOAT. Any variation from this rule is described in the relevant operator section.

Syntax

The following table summarizes the precedence among operators. Each operator in a block shares precedence and is evaluated from left to right. An operator in a higher block has a higher precedence than operators in a lower block.

For example,

a + b * c ==> a + (b * c) 

Because * has a higher precedence than +. Also, a + b - c ==> (a + b) - c.

Because + and - have the same precedence and because + is left associative.