When working with JavaScript, assignment operators are something you’ll use every single day — whether you’re doing simple math, updating values in loops, or managing conditional logic. But do you know all of them, including the lesser-known logical and bitwise assignment operators?
Let’s break them down in the simplest way possible.
📌 What Are Assignment Operators in JavaScript?
Assignment operators assign values to JavaScript variables.
They can do more than just = — they can add, subtract, multiply, shift bits, or even work with logical conditions before assigning.
1️⃣ Basic Assignment Operators
| Operator | Example | Same As |
|---|---|---|
= |
x = y |
Assigns y to x
|
+= |
x += y |
x = x + y |
-= |
x -= y |
x = x - y |
*= |
x *= y |
x = x * y |
/= |
x /= y |
x = x / y |
%= |
x %= y |
x = x % y |
**= |
x **= y |
x = x ** y (power) |
Example:
let x = 5;
x += 10; // x = 15
x *= 2; // x = 30
2️⃣ Shift Assignment Operators
These work on binary representations of numbers.
| Operator | Example | Same As |
|---|---|---|
<<= |
x <<= y |
x = x << y (Left shift) |
>>= |
x >>= y |
x = x >> y (Right shift, signed) |
>>>= |
x >>>= y |
x = x >>> y (Right shift, unsigned) |
Example:
let a = 8; // 1000 in binary
a <<= 1; // 10000 in binary → 16
3️⃣ Bitwise Assignment Operators
These perform bitwise operations and assign the result.
| Operator | Example | Same As | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
&= |
x &= y |
x = x & y |
|||
| ` | =` | `x | = y` | `x = x | y` |
^= |
x ^= y |
x = x ^ y |
Example:
let b = 5; // 0101
b &= 3; // 0101 & 0011 → 0001 → 1
4️⃣ Logical Assignment Operators (ES2020+)
These combine logical checks with assignment.
| Operator | Example | Meaning | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
&&= |
x &&= y |
Assign y if x is truthy
|
||||
| ` | =` | `x | = y` | Assign y if x is falsy
|
||
??= |
x ??= y |
Assign y if x is null or undefined
|
Example:
let c = 0;
c ||= 10; // c = 10 (because 0 is falsy)
let d = null;
d ??= 5; // d = 5 (because d was null)
let e = true;
e &&= "Hello"; // e = "Hello" (because true is truthy)
💡 Quick Tip
These operators make your code cleaner by avoiding repetitive expressions like:
if (!x) { x = y; }
You can now just write:
x ||= y;
📝 Exercise for You
What will be the output of the following code?
let x = 5;
x += 10;
console.log(x);
Answer:
15 🎯
🚀 Final Thoughts
JavaScript assignment operators are powerful shortcuts.
Mastering them will make your code shorter, cleaner, and easier to read — especially when dealing with complex logic or repetitive updates.
If you found this useful, 💖 like, 🖊 comment, and 🔄 share it with other JavaScript learners!
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