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Programming Symbols

July 13, 2026•2,023 words

Programming Symbols: Complete Reference

1. ARITHMETIC OPERATORS

Symbol Name Operation Example Result
+ Plus Addition 5 + 3 8
- Minus Subtraction 5 - 3 2
* Asterisk Multiplication 5 * 3 15
/ Slash Division 6 / 2 3
% Percent Modulo (remainder) 7 % 3 1
++ Double plus Increment x++ or ++x x + 1
-- Double minus Decrement x-- or --x x - 1
** Double asterisk Power (Python, JS) 2 ** 3 8
// Double slash Integer division (Python) 7 // 2 3

2. COMPARISON/RELATIONAL OPERATORS

Symbol Name Comparison Example Result
== Double equals Equal to 5 == 5 true
!= Bang equals Not equal 5 != 3 true
> Greater than Greater than 5 > 3 true
< Less than Less than 5 < 3 false
>= Greater or equal Greater or equal 5 >= 5 true
<= Less or equal Less or equal 5 <= 3 false
=== Triple equals Strict equal (JS) 5 === "5" false
!== Bang bang equals Strict not equal (JS) 5 !== "5" true
<> Diamond (deprecated) Not equal (old SQL) 5 <> 3 true

3. LOGICAL OPERATORS

Symbol Name Operation Example Result
&& Double ampersand Logical AND true && false false
`\ \ ` Double pipe Logical OR
! Exclamation Logical NOT !true false
and Keyword AND (Python) Logical AND True and False False
or Keyword OR (Python) Logical OR True or False True
not Keyword NOT (Python) Logical NOT not True False

4. BITWISE OPERATORS

Symbol Name Operation Example Result
& Ampersand Bitwise AND 5 & 3 1 (0101 & 0011)
`\ ` Pipe Bitwise OR `5 \
^ Caret Bitwise XOR 5 ^ 3 6 (0101 ^ 0011)
~ Tilde Bitwise NOT ~5 -6 (inverts bits)
<< Double less-than Left shift 5 << 1 10 (0101 << 1)
>> Double greater-than Right shift 5 >> 1 2 (0101 >> 1)
>>> Triple greater-than Unsigned right shift (JS) 5 >>> 1 2

5. ASSIGNMENT OPERATORS

Symbol Name Operation Equivalent Example
= Equals Assignment — x = 5;
+= Plus-equals Add & assign x = x + 5 x += 5;
-= Minus-equals Subtract & assign x = x - 5 x -= 5;
*= Multiply-equals Multiply & assign x = x * 5 x *= 5;
/= Divide-equals Divide & assign x = x / 5 x /= 5;
%= Modulo-equals Modulo & assign x = x % 5 x %= 5;
&= AND-equals Bitwise AND & assign x = x & 5 x &= 5;
`\ =` OR-equals Bitwise OR & assign `x = x \
^= XOR-equals Bitwise XOR & assign x = x ^ 5 x ^= 5;
<<= Left-shift-equals Left shift & assign x = x << 2 x <<= 2;
>>= Right-shift-equals Right shift & assign x = x >> 2 x >>= 2;
**= Power-equals (Python) Power & assign x = x ** 2 x **= 2;
//= Floor-divide-equals (Python) Floor divide & assign x = x // 2 x //= 2;

6. DELIMITERS & PUNCTUATION

Symbol Name Use Example
( ) Parentheses Function calls, grouping func(x, y)
[ ] Square brackets Array indexing arr[0]
{ } Curly braces Code blocks, dictionaries { statement; }
; Semicolon Statement terminator int x = 5;
, Comma Parameter/list separator func(a, b, c)
. Period/dot Member access obj.property
-> Arrow Pointer member access ptr->field (C)
:: Double colon Scope resolution std::cout (C++)
: Colon Labels, ternary, slicing label: x = (a) ? b : c
? Question mark Ternary operator (cond) ? true_val : false_val
& Ampersand Address-of (C) &variable
* Asterisk Dereference (C) *pointer
... Ellipsis Variadic arguments func(int ...args)
@ At-sign Decorator (Python) @decorator
# Hash Preprocessor (C), comment (Python) #include, # comment
$ Dollar Variables (PHP), templates $variable
` Backtick Template literals (JS) `Hello ${name}`
\ Backslash Escape character "He said \"Hi\""

7. SPECIAL SYMBOLS

Symbol Name Purpose Example
` ` Pipe Bitwise OR, piping (shell)
~ Tilde Home directory (shell), NOT (bitwise) ~/Documents
` Backtick Command execution (shell) `date`
' Single quote String literal (no interpolation) 'hello'
" Double quote String literal (with interpolation) "hello"
` Backtick Template string (JavaScript) `Hello ${name}`
=> Fat arrow Arrow function (JS, Java) (x) => x * 2
-> Thin arrow Lambda (Python) lambda x: x * 2
:= Walrus Assign & return (Python 3.8+) if (n := len(a)) > 10
** Double asterisk Unpacking (Python) func(**kwargs)
* Asterisk Unpacking (Python) func(*args)
?? Null coalescing (JS) Default if null/undefined value ?? "default"
?. Optional chaining (JS) Safe property access obj?.prop?.field

8. MATHEMATICAL SYMBOLS

Symbol Meaning Example
∑ Summation Mathematical notation
∏ Product Mathematical notation
∞ Infinity float infinity = 1.0 / 0.0;
± Plus-minus Mathematical notation
≈ Approximately equal Floating-point comparison
≠ Not equal Mathematical; use != in code
≤ Less than or equal Mathematical; use <= in code
≥ Greater than or equal Mathematical; use >= in code
√ Square root Mathematical notation
π Pi M_PI in C math library

9. OPERATOR PRECEDENCE (Highest to Lowest)

1. () [] . ->           (Grouping, array access, member access)
2. ! ~ + - ++ -- * &    (Logical NOT, bitwise NOT, unary, increment)
3. * / %                (Multiplication, division, modulo)
4. + -                  (Addition, subtraction)
5. << >>                (Bit shifts)
6. < <= > >=            (Relational)
7. == !=                (Equality)
8. &                    (Bitwise AND)
9. ^                    (Bitwise XOR)
10. |                   (Bitwise OR)
11. &&                  (Logical AND)
12. ||                  (Logical OR)
13. ? :                 (Ternary)
14. = += -= *= /= %=    (Assignment)
15. ,                   (Comma)

10. SYMBOLS BY LANGUAGE FAMILY

C/C++/Java/JavaScript:

+ - * / % ++ -- = == != < > <= >= && || ! & | ^ ~ << >> sizeof

Python-specific:

** // := @ // (floor division) and or not

JavaScript-specific:

=> ?? ?. === !== ** async await

Shell/Unix:

| > < >> & $ ~ ` * ? [ ]

11. ESCAPE SEQUENCES

Escape Represents Example
\\ Backslash "C:\\Users\\John"
\" Double quote "He said \"Hi\""
\' Single quote 'It\'s me'
\n Newline "Line 1\nLine 2"
\t Tab "Col1\tCol2"
\r Carriage return "Text\r"
\b Backspace "Back\bspace"
\f Form feed "Page\f"
\0 Null character '\0'
\x Hex character "\x41" → 'A'
\u Unicode "\u0041" → 'A'

12. COMMENT SYMBOLS

Language Single-line Multi-line Example
C/C++/Java/JS // /* ... */ // comment
Python # ''' ... ''' or """ ... """ # comment
HTML — <!-- ... --> <!-- comment -->
SQL -- /* ... */ -- comment
Shell # — # comment

13. OPERATOR SYMBOLS COMPARISON TABLE

╔════════════════╦═══════╦════════╦═══════╦════════════╗
║ Operation      ║   C   ║ Python ║ Java  ║ JavaScript ║
╠════════════════╬═══════╬════════╬═══════╬════════════╣
║ Power          ║ pow() ║   **   ║ pow() ║    **      ║
║ Floor divide   ║   /   ║   //   ║   /   ║   Math     ║
║ Modulo         ║   %   ║   %    ║   %   ║     %      ║
║ Bitwise NOT    ║   ~   ║   ~    ║   ~   ║     ~      ║
║ Left shift     ║  <<   ║  <<    ║  <<   ║    <<      ║
║ Right shift    ║  >>   ║  >>    ║  >>   ║    >>      ║
║ Arrow function ║   —   ║   ->   ║   —   ║    =>      ║
╚════════════════╩═══════╩════════╩═══════╩════════════╝

14. REGEX SPECIAL CHARACTERS

Symbol Meaning Example
. Any character a.c matches "abc", "adc"
* 0 or more ab*c matches "ac", "abc", "abbc"
+ 1 or more ab+c matches "abc", "abbc"
? 0 or 1 ab?c matches "ac", "abc"
^ Start of line ^start matches line beginning
$ End of line end$ matches line ending
[ ] Character class [abc] matches a, b, or c
[^ ] Negated class [^abc] matches anything but a, b, c
( ) Group (ab)+ matches "ab", "abab"
`\ ` Alternation
\ Escape \$ matches literal "$"

Would you like me to create:

  1. Interactive symbol reference (searchable artifact)?
  2. Operator precedence chart (visual)?
  3. Symbol usage by language (comparative table)?
  4. Regex patterns guide (with examples)?
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