---
title: "Operators in Groovy"
canonical: "https://support.appfire.com/space/JMWE/461439869/Operators%20in%20Groovy"
format: markdown
---
> Macro (aura-html)
Groovy supports all typical operators of Java, such as the Unary operators, Arithmetic operators, Assignment operators, Logical operators, Relational operators and Conditional operator. See below for examples using some of the operators. For more information, see any [Java ](https://www.javatpoint.com/operators-in-java)[documentation](https://www.javatpoint.com/operators-in-java).
Apart from these, Groovy also features operators specific to the Groovy language such as the Safe navigation operator and the Elvis operator.
**On this page:**
## Typical operators
##### **Unary operators**
```groovy
int x = 10
x++ //returns 11
++x //returns 12
x-- //returns 11
--x //returns 10
```
##### **Arithmetic operators**
```groovy
1 + 2 //returns 3
3 / 2 //returns 1.5
10 % 3 //returns 1
```
##### **Assignment arithmetic operators**
```groovy
def a = 5
b = a += 3 //returns 8
def c = 5
c *= 3
c == 15
```
##### **Range operator**
```groovy
def range = 5..9
range[3] == 8
```
##### **Relational operators**
```groovy
a > b
b - 3 == a
b + 3 != a
```
##### **Logical operators**
```groovy
x && y
x || y
!x
```
##### **Conditional operators**
```groovy
!true == false
!'' == true
```
> ℹ️ **Ternary operator**
> ℹ️
> ℹ️ The ternary operator is a shortcut expression that is equivalent to an if/else branch assigning some value to a variable.
> ℹ️
> ℹ️ Instead of:
> ℹ️
> ℹ️ ```groovy
> ℹ️ def text = "Test"
> ℹ️ if (text!=null && text.length()>0) {
> ℹ️ result = text
> ℹ️ } else {
> ℹ️ result = 'Empty'
> ℹ️ }
> ℹ️ ```
> ℹ️
> ℹ️ you can simplify it to:
> ℹ️
> ℹ️ ##### **Ternary operator**
> ℹ️
> ℹ️ ```groovy
> ℹ️ def text = "Test"
> ℹ️ text ? text : 'Empty'
> ℹ️ ```
## Operators specific to Groovy
There are notable operators that are specific only to the Groovy language; like the Elvis operator and the Safe Navigation Operator
### Elvis operator
Elvis operator is a shortening of the ternary operator. You need not have to repeat the value you want to assign. You can simplify the above example to:
##### **Elvis operator**
```groovy
def text = "Test"
text ?: 'Empty'
```
### Safe navigation operator
The Safe Navigation operator is used to avoid a NullPointerException. When you have a reference to an object you might need to verify that it is not `null` before accessing methods or properties of the object. Using this operator, you can avoid this and directly return a `null`.
Normally you would have to:
```groovy
if(employee){
employee.getSalary()
}
```
Instead, you can write it as:
```groovy
employee?.getSalary()
```