THINK++ — Engineering Visualized

Increment / Decrement

Increment & Decrement

These unary operators increase or decrease a value by 1. The key difference is when the change happens — before or after using the value.

++xPre-increment

Increments THEN returns value

x=5; y=++x; // x=6, y=6

x++Post-increment

Returns value THEN increments

x=5; y=x++; // x=6, y=5

--xPre-decrement

Decrements THEN returns value

x=5; y=--x; // x=4, y=4

x--Post-decrement

Returns value THEN decrements

x=5; y=x--; // x=4, y=5

PRO TIP

In loops, ++i is preferred over i++ for iterators as it avoids creating a temporary copy. For primitive types, modern compilers optimize both equally.

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Increment Decrement Operators

Increment Decrement Operators

Increment & Decrement

Increment & Decrement