What does the % mean in the player = (player % 2) ? 1 : 2;

Question

I have already surfing the internet for the use of % in the line but I can't seem to get a proper answer.

It's the modulus operator. A good answer : https://stackoverflow.com/a/17525046/6400614 — Rahul Bharadwaj, May 22 '20 at 06:49
% represents the mod function/operator, i.e it gives you the remainder of the division. In more daily speech, %2 checks if a number is odd or even. — visibleman, May 22 '20 at 06:52
Note that you can do the same thing with `player = (player % 2) + 1`. — Code-Apprentice, May 22 '20 at 06:54
@Code-Apprentice That's not true. Should be `((player + 1) % 2) + 1` — amirali, May 22 '20 at 07:05
@amirali It could be `player = 2 - player % 2` or `player = 2 - (player & 1)` to avoid division. — Blastfurnace, May 22 '20 at 08:36
@amirali after further analysis, I think the formula in the title is incorrect. Or at least it doesn't do what I expected which was to toggle `player` between `1` and `2`. Instead `player` always retains the same value: `(1%2)?1:2 => 1` and `(2%2)?1:2 => 2`. So this formula is a noop if player only has the values 1 and 2. — Code-Apprentice, May 22 '20 at 21:23

Deepak Tatyaji Ahire · Answer 1 · 2020-05-22T07:01:09.147

3

% means the remainder operator.

Here, player % 2 means the remainder after dividing variable player by 2. It will be a value less than 2 and greater than or equal to 0.

If value is 0, the ternary operator ?:, evaluates to false and if value is 1, then ternary operator evaluates to true.

Therefore if value of player is even, the player will be set to 2 and if the value of the player is odd, then it will be set to 1.

edited May 22 '20 at 07:01

answered May 22 '20 at 06:52

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered May 22 '20 at 06:52

0

"%" is used to find the remainder. In your case, the value of the player will divide by 2 and it will give the remainder.

answered May 22 '20 at 06:52

Deep Chokshi

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered May 22 '20 at 06:53

It is modulus operator i.e. calculates the remainder.

Let me break it and explain the whole expression:(assuming player is of int type)
player = (player % 2) ? 1 : 2;

player % 2 means `get remainder by dividing player by 2

a?b:c means if expression a ( note a is an expression) results to true or 1, then return b, else return c;

Now the whole inference:

If the remainder after dividing player by 2 is 0, assign 1 to player, else ( in which case remainder is 1), assign 2 to player.

score -1 · Answer 4 · answered May 22 '20 at 06:55

-1

% Modulus Operator and remainder of after an integer division like 3%2=1 in your case it like

if(player%2==1){
 player=1;
}else{
 player=2;
}

answered May 22 '20 at 06:55

4 Answers4