The Modulus Operator

The modulus operator works on integers (and integer expressions) and yields the remainder when the first operand is divided by the second. In C++, the modulus operator is a percent sign, %. The syntax is exactly the same as for other operators:

The first operator, integer division, yields 2. The second operator yields 1. Thus, 7 divided by 3 is 2 with 1 left over.

The modulus operator turns out to be surprisingly useful. For example, you can check whether one number is divisible by another: if x % y is zero, then x is divisible by y.

Also, you can use the modulus operator to extract the rightmost digit or digits from a number. For example, x % 10 yields the rightmost digit of x (in base 10). Similarly x % 100 yields the last two digits.