Member Avatar for get2tk

hi,pls wat does this symbol mean(%)?i know it means remainder,but can not seem to understand in what context .

for example if you say

hours = hours%24;
minutes = mins%60;.................

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by masijade

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gave the basic idea; the points below cover Java-specific behaviour and common pitfalls that matter in real code, and tie back to the time-wrapping use mentioned by .

int a = -7 % 3;               // a == -1
int b = Math.floorMod(-7, 3); // b == 2

double c = 5.5 % 2.0;         // c approx 1.5 (floating-point rounding applies)

Important notes and tips:

  • Integer % follows Java's remainder definition; the sign of the result follows the left operand. For a guaranteed non-negative wrap (useful for circular buffers or clock arithmetic), use Math.floorMod or normalize with ((x % n) + n) % n.
  • x % 0 for integer types throws ArithmeticException. For floating-point operands the operation follows IEEE 754 rules and can yield NaN or other special values.
  • % has the same precedence as * and / and is left-associative.
  • For performance where the divisor is a power of two and values are non-negative, x & (n - 1) can replace x % n. Use that only when correctness for negatives is not required.

For the formal definition see the Java Language Specification Remainder operator and the utility method documentation Math.floorMod.

Member Avatar for masijade

Modulus. It produces the "remainder" from a division. I.E. 10 % 3 returns 1 and 11 % 3 returns 2 and 12 % 3 returns 0.

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