Operators

Operators are symbols that tell ColdFusion to perform an operation on one or more values. You use operators every day while writing CFML — adding numbers, comparing values, combining text, checking conditions, and assigning values to variables.

For example, when calculating a total price, comparing a user's age, or checking whether someone is logged in, you're using operators.

By the end of this lesson, you'll understand the most commonly used ColdFusion operators and know when to use each one.

Learning Objectives

After completing this lesson, you'll be able to:

• Understand what operators are.
• Use arithmetic operators.
• Use assignment operators.
• Compare values, in both CFScript symbols and tag-syntax words.
• Work with logical operators.
• Concatenate strings.
• Use the ternary operator.
• Write operator expressions in both CFScript and Tag Syntax.

What Is an Operator?

An operator performs an action on one or more values (called operands).

• Operand — a value used in an operation, e.g., 10 and 20.
• Operator — the symbol that performs the operation on those operands, e.g., +.

Types of Operators

ColdFusion provides several categories of operators.

Arithmetic Operators

Arithmetic operators perform mathematical calculations.

Assignment Operator

The assignment operator (=) stores a value in a variable.

Comparison Operators

Comparison operators compare two values and always return either true or false.

CFML vs CFScript Operators

Beginners often get confused when they see EQ, GT, LTE in tag syntax but ==, >, <= in CFScript. Here's both side by side.

String Comparison

String Contains

Tag syntax has a dedicated CONTAINS operator. CFScript doesn't — use a string function like contains() or find() instead.

Logical Operators

Logical operators combine multiple conditions and always return either true or false.

AND

Returns true only if both conditions are true.

OR

Returns true if at least one condition is true.

NOT

Reverses a Boolean value.

Advanced Logical Operators (XOR, EQV, IMP)

AND, OR, and NOT are used every day in real ColdFusion development. XOR (exclusive OR — true only if exactly one side is true) shows up occasionally. EQV and IMP are rarely used in real applications and mostly appear in documentation or certification material — worth knowing they exist, not worth memorizing deeply.

writeOutput(true XOR false); // true
writeOutput(true EQV true);  // true
writeOutput(true IMP false); // false

String Concatenation

The & operator joins strings together.

Ternary Operator

The ternary operator is a short way to write an if...else statement.

Syntax: condition ? value1 : value2

Operator Precedence

ColdFusion follows the standard order of operations: parentheses first, then multiplication/division, then addition/subtraction, then comparison, then logical operators.

Real-World Example

Common Beginner Mistakes

Best Practices

• Use parentheses to improve readability, even when not strictly required.
• Use meaningful variable names.
• Keep expressions simple — split complex conditions across multiple lines or variables.
• Use & when joining strings, never +.
• Prefer word operators (EQ, LT, AND, etc.) in tag syntax for readability.

Interview Questions

Summary

In this lesson, you learned how operators work in ColdFusion. You explored arithmetic, assignment, comparison, logical, string, and ternary operators using both CFScript and Tag Syntax — including the word-based operators (EQ, GT, AND) that tag syntax uses in place of CFScript's symbols.

Understanding operators makes it much easier to write conditions, perform calculations, and build real-world ColdFusion applications.

What's Next?

The next lesson covers Output — how to display data using writeOutput() in CFScript and <cfoutput> in Tag Syntax, along with expressions, variables, and common output techniques.