Syntactically operators usually contrast to functions. In most languages, functions may be seen as a special form of prefix operator with fixed precedence level and associativity, often with compulsory parentheses e.g. Func(a) (or (Func a) in LISP). Most languages support programmer-defined functions, but cannot really claim to support programmer-defined operators, unless they have more than prefix notation and more than a single precedence level. Semantically operators can be seen as special form of function with different calling notation and a limited number of parameters (usually 1 or 2). The position of the operator with respect to its operands may be prefix, infix or postfix, and the syntax of an expression involving an operator depends on its arity (number of operands), precedence, and (if applicable), associativity. Most programming languages support binary operators and a few unary operators, with a few supporting more operands, such as the ?: operator in C, which is ternary. There are prefix unary operators, such as unary minus -x, and postfix unary operators, such as post-increment x++; and binary operations are infix, such as x + y or x = y. Infix operations of higher arity require additional symbols, such as the ternary operator ?: in C, written as a ? b : c – indeed, this is the only common example, it is often referred to as the ternary operator. Prefix and postfix operations can support any desired arity, however, such as 1 2 3 4 +. Occasionally parts of a language may be described as "matchfix" or "circumfix" operators, either to simplify the language's description or implementation. A circumfix operator consists of two or more parts which enclose its operands. Circumfix operators have the highest precedence, with their contents being evaluated and the resulting value used in the surrounding expression. The most familiar circumfix operator are the parentheses mentioned above, used to indicate which parts of an expression are to be evaluated before others. Another example from physics is the inner product notation of Dirac's bra–ket notation. Circumfix operators are especially useful to denote operations that involve many or varying numbers of operands. The specification of a language will specify the syntax the operators it supports, while languages such as Prolog that support programmer-defined operators require that the syntax be defined by the programmer.

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