Operators

Operators are described in detail in Operations.

Table A-7 summarizes the operators AppleScript supports. The first column lists the operators. The second column shows the syntax for using the operators in expressions. The placeholders in the syntax descriptions correspond to AppleScript value classes, which are described briefly in Placeholders, and in more detail in Values and Constants

Synonyms are listed in groups. The table shows the syntax for the first operator, but operators that are synonyms follow the same syntax rules.

Table A-7 Operators

Operator	Syntax
Arithmetic operators
`*`	`number * number`
`+`	`number + number date + number`
`-`	`number - number date - number date - date`
`÷ /`	`number ( ÷ \| / ) number`
`^`	`number ^ number`
`div`	`number div number`
`mod`	`number mod number`
Logical operators
`and`	`Boolean and Boolean`
`not`	`not Boolean`
`or`	`Boolean or Boolean`
Containment operators
`start[s] with begin[s] with`	`list starts with list string starts with string`
`end[s] with`	`list ends with list string ends with string`
`contains`	`list contains list record contains record string contains string`
`does not contain doesn't contain`	`list does not contain list record does not contain record string does not contain string`
`is in is contained by`	`list is in list record is in record string is in string`
`is not in is not contained by isn't contained by`	`list is not in list record is not in record string is not in string`
Comparison operators (equality and inequality)
`= equal equals equal to is is equal to`	`expression = expression`
`≠ does not equal doesn't equal is not is not equal [to] isn't isn't equal [to]`	`expression ≠ expression`
Comparison operators (precedence)
`< comes before is less than is not greater than or equal [to] isn't greater than or equal [to] less than`	`date < date integer < integer real < real string < string`
`> comes after greater than is greater than is not less than or equal [to] isn't less than or equal [to]`	`date > date integer > integer real > real string > string`
`≤ <= does not come after doesn't come after is less than or equal [to] is not greater than isn't greater than less than or equal [to]`	`date ≤ date integer ≤ integer real ≤ real string ≤ string`
`≥ >= does not come before doesn't come before greater than or equal [to] is greater than or equal [to] is not less than isn't less than`	`date ≥ date integer ≥ integer real ≥ real string ≥ string`
Miscellaneous operators
`& (concatenation)`	`expression & expression`
`as`	`expression as className`
`a reference to`	`[a] ( ref [to] \| reference to ) reference`

Table A-8 shows the order in which AppleScript performs operations. The column labeled "Associativity" indicates the order in which AppleScript performs operations if there are two or more operations of the same precedence in an expression. The word "none" in the Associativity column indicates that you cannot have multiple consecutive occurrences of the operation in an expression. For example, the expression 3 = 3 = 3 is not legal because the associativity for the equal operator (=) is "none." The word "unary" indicates that the operator is a unary operator. To evaluate expressions with multiple unary operators of the same order, AppleScript applies the operator closest to the operand first, then applies the next closest operator, and so on. For example, the expression not not not true is evaluated as not (not (not true)).

Table A-8 Operator precedence

Order	Operators	Associativity	Type of operator
1	`( )`	Innermost to outermost	Grouping
2	`+ -`	Unary	Plus or minus sign for numbers
3	`^`	Right to left	Exponentiation
4	`* / ÷ div mod`	Left to right	Multiplication and division
5	`+ -`	Left to right	Addition and subtraction
6	`&`	Left to right	Concatenation
7	`as`	Left to right	Coercion
8	`< ≤ > ≥`	None	Comparison
9	`= ≠`	None	Equality and inequality
10	`not`	Unary	Logical negation
11	`and`	Left to right	Logical for Boolean values
12	`or`	Left to right	Logical for Boolean values