These are the punctuation symbols in C. The meaning of each symbol is detailed in the linked pages.

[edit]{}

• In astruct orunion definition, delimit thestruct-declaration-list.
• In anenum definition, delimit the enumerator list.
• Delimit acompound statement. The compound statement may be part of afunction definition.
• Ininitialization, delimit the initializers.

[edit][]

• Subscript operator.
• Part ofarray declarator in adeclaration or atype-id.
• Ininitialization, introduce a designator for an array element.(since C99)
• In anattribute specifier, delimit the attributes.(since C23)

[edit]#

• Introduce apreprocessing directive.
• Thepreprocessing operator for stringification.

[edit]##

• Thepreprocessing operator for token pasting.

[edit]()

• In an expression,indicate grouping.
• Function call operator.
• In asizeof,_Alignof(since C11),typeof ortypeof_unqual(since C23) expression, delimit the operand.
• In anexplicit cast, delimit the type-id.
• In acompound literal, delimit the type-id.(since C99)
• In adeclaration or atype-id, indicate grouping.
• In afunction declarator (in adeclaration or atype-id), delimit the parameter list.
• In anif,switch,while,do-while, orfor statement, delimit the controlling clause.
• In afunction-like macro definition, delimit the macro parameters.
• In afunction-like macro invocation, delimit the macro arguments or prevent commas from being interpreted as argument separators.
• Part of adefined,__has_include,__has_embed or__has_c_attribute(since C23) preprocessing operator.
• Part of ageneric selection expression.(since C11)
• In an_Atomic type specifier, delimit the type-id.(since C11)
• In astatic assertion declaration, delimit the operands.(since C11)
• In an_Alignas specifier, delimit the operand.(since C11)
• In anattribute, delimit the attribute arguments.(since C23)
• In a bit-precise integer type name (_BitInt(N)), delimit the size.(since C23)
• Part of__VA_OPT__ replacement in a variadic macro definition.(since C23)
• In a preprocessor parameter used in#embed directives and__has_embed preprocessing expressions, delimit the preprocessor parameter clause.(since C23)

[edit];

• Indicate the end of

• astatement (including the init-statement of a for statement)
• adeclaration orstruct-declaration-list

• Separate the second and third clauses of afor statement.

[edit]:

• Part ofconditional operator.
• Part oflabel declaration.
• In abit-field member declaration, introduce the width.
• Introduce anenum base, which specifies the underlying type of the enum.(since C23)
• In ageneric association, delimit the type-id ordefault and the selected expression.(since C11)

[edit]...

• In theparameter list of a function declarator, signify avariadic function.
• In amacro definition, signify a variadic macro.(since C99)

[edit]?

• Part ofconditional operator.

[edit]::

• In anattribute, indicate attribute scope.(since C23)
• In a preprocessor prefixed parameter (used by#embed and__has_embed), indicate scope.(since C23)

[edit].

• Member access operator.
• Ininitialization, introduce a designator for a struct/union member.(since C99)

[edit]->

• Member access operator.

[edit]~

• Unary complement operator (a.k.a. bitwise not operator).

[edit]!

• Logical not operator.

[edit]+

• Unary plus operator.
• Binary plus operator.

[edit]-

• Unary minus operator.
• Binary minus operator.

[edit]*

• Indirection operator.
• Multiplication operator.
• Pointer operator operator in adeclarator or in atype-id.
• Placeholder for the length of a variable-length array declarator in afunction declaration.(since C99)

[edit]/

• Division operator.

[edit]%

• Modulo operator.

[edit]^

• Bitwise xor operator.

[edit]&

• Address-of operator.
• Bitwise and operator.

[edit]|

• Bitwise or operator.

[edit]=

• Simple assignment operator.
• Ininitialization, delimit the object and the initializer list.
• In anenum definition, introduce the value of enumeration constant.

[edit]+=

• Compound assignment operator.

[edit]-=

• Compound assignment operator.

[edit]*=

• Compound assignment operator.

[edit]/=

• Compound assignment operator.

[edit]%=

• Compound assignment operator.

[edit]^=

• Compound assignment operator.

[edit]&=

• Compound assignment operator.

[edit]|=

• Compound assignment operator.

[edit]==

• Equality operator.

[edit]!=

• Inequality operator.

[edit]<

• Less-than operator.
• Introduce a header name in

• a#include directive
• a__has_include preprocessing expression(since C23)
• a#embed directive(since C23)
• a__has_embed preprocessing expression(since C23)
• implementation-defined locations within a#pragma directive

[edit]>

• Greater-than operator.
• Indicate the end of a header name in

• a#include directive
• a__has_include preprocessing expression(since C23)
• a#embed directive(since C23)
• a__has_embed preprocessing expression(since C23)
• implementation-defined locations within a#pragma directive

[edit]<=

• Less-than-or-equal-to operator.

[edit]>=

• Greater-than-or-equal-to operator.

[edit]&&

• Logical and operator.

[edit]||

• Logical or operator.

[edit]<<

• Bitwise shift operator.

[edit]>>

• Bitwise shift operator.

[edit]<<=

• Compound assignment operator.

[edit]>>=

• Compound assignment operator.

[edit]++

• Increment operator.

[edit]--

• Decrement operator.

[edit],

• Comma operator.
• List separator in

• the declarator list in adeclaration
• initializer list ininitialization, includingcompound literals(since C99)
• the argument list in afunction call expression
• the enumerator list in anenum declaration
• a function parameter list
• the macro parameter list in afunction-like macro definition
• the macro argument list in afunction-like macro invocation, unless found between an inner set of parentheses
• the generic association list in ageneric selection expression(since C11)
• anattribute list(since C23)

• In astatic assertion declaration, separate the arguments.(since C11)
• In ageneric selection expression, separate the controlling expression and the generic association list.(since C11)

[edit]References

[edit]See also

• In other languages

• العربية
• Česky
• Deutsch
• Español
• Français
• Italiano
• 日本語
• 한국어
• Polski
• Português
• Русский
• Türkçe
• 中文