Batch Script Arithmetic Operators

Learn how to use arithmetic operators (+, -, *, /, %) in batch scripts for calculations, including syntax, examples, and operator precedence rules.

The following table lists the available arithmetic operators.

Operator	Description	Example
`+`	Addition of two operands	`1 + 2` will give 3
`−`	Subtracts second operand from the first	`2 − 1` will give 1
`*`	Multiplication of both operands	`2 * 2` will give 4
`/`	Division of the numerator by the denominator	`3 / 2` will give 1.5
`%`	Modulus operator and remainder of after an integer/float division	`3 % 2` will give 1

Example

The following code snippet shows how the various operators can be used.

Example of Arithmetic Operatorsbatch

@echo off
set /A a=5
set /A b=10
set /A c= %a%+%b%
echo %c%
set /A c= %a%-%b%
echo %c%
set /A c= %b%*%a%
echo %c%
set  /A c=%b%/%a%
echo %c%
set /A c=%b% %% %a%
echo %c%

Outputplaintext

Precedence of Arithmetic operators

The precedence of arithmetic operators is in the following order:

/  *  %  +  -

Let's clarify this with the following example:

PrecedenceExample.batbatch

@echo off
set /A s = (20 - 5) * 2 + 8 / 2
echo s = %s%

Outputplaintext

s = 34

Explanation:

(20 - 5) gets the highest priority and calculated first giving 15.
Then division operator / gets next priority thus 8 / 2 is evaluated giving 4.
After this multiplication operator * gets next priority thus 15 * 2 yields 30.
Finally, addition operator + performs addition operation 30 + 4 giving final result 34.