Difference between the '&' operator and '&&' operator ?

‘&&’ : - is a Logical AND operator produce a boolean value of true or false based on the logical relationship of its arguments.

For example: - Condition1 && Condition2

If Condition1 is false, then (Condition1 && Condition2) will always be false, that is the reason why this logical operator is also known as Short Circuit Operator because it does not evaluate another condition. If Condition1 is false , then there is no need to evaluate Condtiton2.

If Condition1 is true, then Condition2 is evaluated, if it is true then overall result will be true else it will be false.

public static void main(String[] args) {  
           int a = 12;  
           int b = 6;  
           if (a > 8 && b > 4) {  
                System.out.println("True");  
           } else {  
                System.out.println("False");  
           }  
      }  

Output:-

True because both the condition are true.

‘&’ : - is a Bitwise AND Operator. It produces a one (1) in the output if both the input bits are one. Otherwise it produces zero (0).

For example:-

int a=12; // binary representation of 12 is 1100

int b=6; // binary representation of 6 is 0110

int c=(a & b); // binary representation of (12 & 6) is 0100

The value of c is 4.

Enjoy Reading.