Relational Operators

Relational operators are fundamental to decision-making in C programming. They are used to compare two values and determine the relationship between them. The result of a relational expression is always a boolean value: true (represented by the integer 1 in C) or false (represented by the integer 0). These operators are the backbone of control flow statements like `if`, `while`, and `for`, allowing your program to execute different blocks of code based on specific conditions. The six relational operators are: `==` (equal to), which checks if two values are identical; `!=` (not equal to), which checks if two values are different; `<` (less than), which checks if the left operand is smaller than the right; `>` (greater than), which checks if the left operand is larger than the right; `<=` (less than or equal to); and `>=` (greater than or equal to). It is a very common beginner mistake to confuse the equality operator `==` with the assignment operator `=`. Using a single `=` in a conditional statement (like `if (x = 5)`) is a valid C expression that assigns 5 to `x` and evaluates to 5 (which is treated as true), leading to logical errors that can be hard to find. Always use the double equals `==` for comparison. Relational operators can be used to compare numbers and characters. When comparing characters, C actually compares their underlying ASCII values. Mastering relational operators is the first step toward creating dynamic programs that can react and adapt to different inputs and states.