The Special Operators are used for special functions in C programs. Some of the Special Operators available in C language are as follows:

1. sizeof() operator

The sizeof() operator is used to find out the size of the variables in C program. For example:

consider 'a' as an integer then
sizeof(a)  would return 2 or 4 based on the compiler or system used

Program example of sizeof() operator

//An example of sizeof() operator
#include<stdio.h>

int main()
{
    char a;
    int b;
    float c;
    double d;
    
    printf("size of char %lu\n",sizeof(a));
    printf("size of int %lu\n",sizeof(b));
    printf("size of float %lu\n",sizeof(c));
    printf("size of double %lu\n",sizeof(d));
    return 0;
}

Output

size of char 1
size of int 4
size of float 4
size of double 8

2. Reference operator

The reference operator is denoted by & symbol. It is used to return the address of the variable. If x is a variable then &x will return the address of the x.

Program example of reference operator

//An example of reference operator
#include<stdio.h>

int main()
{
    int a;
    printf("address of a %p\n",&a);
    return 0;
}

Output

address of a 0x7fff58dfcae8

3. Dereference operator

The dereference operator is also known as an indirection operator. It is denoted by * symbol. It is used to return the value pointed by the pointer variable. If x is a pointer, then *x represents the value contained in the address pointed by x.

Program example of dereference operator

//An example of dereference operator
#include<stdio.h>

int main()
{
    int a = 10, *x;
    x = &a;
    printf("value pointed by pointer x is %d\n",*x);
    return 0;
}

Output

value pointed by pointer x is 10