C has some special operators that can simplify code. The simplest of
these are the increment and decrement operators:
++
increment: add one to
--
decrement: subtract one from
You can use these with any integer or floating point variable (or a
character in some cases, carefully). They simply add or subtract 1
from a variable. The following three statements are equivalent:
variable = variable + 1;
variable++;
++variable;
So are these three:
variable = variable - 1;
variable--;
--variable;
Notice that the ++ and -- operators can be placed before
or after the variable. In the cases above, the two forms work
identically, but there is actually a subtle difference. (See Postfix and prefix ++ and -, for more information.)
