Use of increments in C

The expression ++n increments the value and then returns the incremented value.

And in the expression n++ first returns the value of n and then the value is incremented. It is a subtle difference and the copier works the same way for the n-- or --n .

In a loop for you can use ++n , it's slightly faster. Already, n++ in a loop will create an extra copy of its value that will be thrown away, but that's no reason not to use n++ in loop for >, unless you are programming for hardware where memory is extremely limited, so it would be justifiable to use ++n in loop for .

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The increment has the variation for each case that you want to use. ex:

int x = 10;
int y = 10;
printf("%i",x++); // imprime 10
printf("%i",x);  // imprime 11
printf("%i",++y); // imprime 11
printf("%i",y); // imprime 11

The increment or decrement after the variable, returns the variable before changing the value, before the variable, makes the change and then returns.

These are the concepts of pre and post increment. And the same goes for decrement as well.

Being:

y = 0;
x = 10;

Pre increment

y = ++x;
y = 11;

Equivalent to the following assignment:

x++;
y = x;

That is, it increments x and then assigns the new value of x to y .