Difference between i++ and ++i in a loop?

Question

Is there a difference in ++i and i++ in a for loop? Is it simply a syntax thing?

Answer 1

It boggles my mind why so may people write the increment expression in for-loop as i++.

In a for-loop, when the 3rd component is a simple increment statement, as in

for (i=0; i<x; i++)  

or

for (i=0; i<x; ++i)   

there is no difference in the resulting executions.

Answer 2

For i's of user-defined types, these operators could (but should not) have meaningfully different sematics in the context of a loop index, and this could (but should not) affect the behavior of the loop described.

Also, in c++ it is generally safest to use the pre-increment form (++i) because it is more easily optimized. (Scott Langham beat me to this tidbit. Curse you, Scott)

Answer 3

They both increment the number. ++i is equivalent to i = i + 1.

i++ and ++i are very similar but not exactly the same. Both increment the number, but ++i increments the number before the current expression is evaluated, whereas i++ increments the number after the expression is evaluated.

int i = 3;
int a = i++; // a = 3, i = 4
int b = ++a; // b = 4, a = 

Check this link.

Answer 4

I dont know for the other languages but in Java ++i is a prefix increment which means: increase i by 1 and then use the new value of i in the expression in which i resides, and i++ is a postfix increment which means the following: use the current value of i in the expression and then increase it by 1. Example:

public static void main(String [] args){

    int a = 3;
    int b = 5;
    System.out.println(++a);
    System.out.println(b++);
    System.out.println(b);

} and the output is:

• 4
• 5
• 6

Answer 5

a++ is known as postfix.

add 1 to a, returns the old value.

++a is known as prefix.

add 1 to a, returns the new value.

C#:

string[] items = {"a","b","c","d"};
int i = 0;
foreach (string item in items)
{
    Console.WriteLine(++i);
}
Console.WriteLine("");

i = 0;
foreach (string item in items)
{
    Console.WriteLine(i++);
}

Output:

1
2
3
4

0
1
2
3

foreach and while loops depend on which increment type you use. With for loops like below it makes no difference as you're not using the return value of i:

for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++) { Console.Write(i);}
Console.WriteLine("");
for (int i = 0; i < 5; ++i) { Console.Write(i); }

0 1 2 3 4
0 1 2 3 4

If the value as evaluated is used then the type of increment becomes significant:

int n = 0;
for (int i = 0; n < 5; n = i++) { }

Answer 6

Here is a Java-Sample and the Byte-Code, post- and preIncrement show no difference in Bytecode:

public class PreOrPostIncrement {

    static int somethingToIncrement = 0;

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        final int rounds = 1000;
        postIncrement(rounds);
        preIncrement(rounds);
    }

    private static void postIncrement(final int rounds) {
        for (int i = 0; i < rounds; i++) {
            somethingToIncrement++;
        }
    }

    private static void preIncrement(final int rounds) {
        for (int i = 0; i < rounds; ++i) {
            ++somethingToIncrement;
        }
    }
}

And now for the byte-code (javap -private -c PreOrPostIncrement):

public class PreOrPostIncrement extends java.lang.Object{
static int somethingToIncrement;

static {};
Code:
0:  iconst_0
1:  putstatic   #10; //Field somethingToIncrement:I
4:  return

public PreOrPostIncrement();
Code:
0:  aload_0
1:  invokespecial   #15; //Method java/lang/Object."<init>":()V
4:  return

public static void main(java.lang.String[]);
Code:
0:  sipush  1000
3:  istore_1
4:  sipush  1000
7:  invokestatic    #21; //Method postIncrement:(I)V
10: sipush  1000
13: invokestatic    #25; //Method preIncrement:(I)V
16: return

private static void postIncrement(int);
Code:
0:  iconst_0
1:  istore_1
2:  goto    16
5:  getstatic   #10; //Field somethingToIncrement:I
8:  iconst_1
9:  iadd
10: putstatic   #10; //Field somethingToIncrement:I
13: iinc    1, 1
16: iload_1
17: iload_0
18: if_icmplt   5
21: return

private static void preIncrement(int);
Code:
0:  iconst_0
1:  istore_1
2:  goto    16
5:  getstatic   #10; //Field somethingToIncrement:I
8:  iconst_1
9:  iadd
10: putstatic   #10; //Field somethingToIncrement:I
13: iinc    1, 1
16: iload_1
17: iload_0
18: if_icmplt   5
21: return

}