Adobe ColdFusion 8

Operator types

ColdFusion has four types of operators:

  • Arithmetic
  • Boolean
  • Decision (or comparison)
  • String

Functions also can be viewed as operators because they act on operands.

Arithmetic operators

The following table describes the arithmetic operators:

Operator

Description

+  -  *  /

Basic arithmetic: Addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.

In division, the right operand cannot be zero.

++ --

Increment and decrement. Increase or decrease the variable by one.

These operators can be used for pre-incrementing or decrementing (as in x = + i), where the variable is changed before it is used in the expression, or post-incrementing or decrementing (as in x = i++), where the value is changed after it is used in the expression. If the value of the variable i is initially 7, for example, the value of x in x = ++i is 8 after expression evaluation, but in x=i++, the value of x is 7. In both cases, the value of i becomes 8.

These operators cannot be used with expressions that involve functions, as in f().a++. Also, you can use an expression such as -++x, but ---x and +++x cause errors, because their meanings are ambiguous. You can use parentheses to group the operators, as in -(--x) or +(++x), however.

+= -= *= /= %=

Compound assignment operators. The variable on the right is used as both an element in the expression and the result variable. Thus, the expression a += b is equivalent to a = a +b.

An expression can have only one compound assignment operator.

+  -

Unary arithmetic: Set the sign of a number.

MOD

or %

Modulus: Return the remainder after a number is divided by a divisor. The result has the same sign as the divisor. The value to the right of the operator should be an integer; using a non-numeric value causes an error, and if you specify a real number, ColdFusion ignores the fractional part (for example, 11 MOD 4.7 is 3).

\

Integer division: Divide an integer by another integer. The result is also an integer; for example, 9\4 is 2. The right operand cannot be zero.

^

Exponentiation: Return the result of a number raised to a power (exponent). Use the caret character (^) to separate the number from the power; for example, 2^3 is 8. Real and negative numbers are allowed for both the base and the exponent. However, any expression that equates to an imaginary number, such -1^.5 results in the string "-1.#IND. ColdFusion does not support imaginary or complex numbers.