What does % mean in Java

In this post, we will be learning about the percent sign in Java. In simple words, for positive numbers, modulus operator(%) means percent sign in the java programming language.

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What is the modulus operator?

The modulus operator in java returns the remainder from division.
For example:
1. int remainder = 14 % 3
2. int quotient = 14 / 3
The first operator modulus results in 2 whereas the second operator division(/) results in 4.
In other words, x = A%B means that x will contain the value of the remainder when dividing A by B.

More examples:

 15%8 = 7,
13%7 = 6, 
15%5 = 0

Java Program Example

 public class PercentSignJava {
    public static void main(String args[]) {
      System.out.println("Modulus operator examples:");         
      int a=20, b=7;
      int z = a%b;
      System.out.println("integer example: 20%7 = " + z);
      float c= 5.5f, d=2.5f;
      float y = c%d;
      System.out.println("float example: 5.5%2.5 = " + y);
    }
}

Output:
Modulus operator examples:
integer example: 20%7 = 6
float example: 5.5%2.5 = 0.5

What if the input number is negative

Note: If the input number is negative, then the modulus always returns positive results whereas the remainder may give negative results.

Source: Stackoverflow

Where modulus operator can be useful

The modulus operator can be used in the following ways:

1. You can check whether one number is divisible by another, for example, if a % b is zero then a is divisible by b.
2. You can extract the rightmost digit or digits from a number. for example, a % 10 returns the rightmost digit of a (in base 10). Similarly, a % 100 returns the last two digits.

That's all for today, please mention in the comments in case you have any questions related to percent sign in java.