Difference between pre-increment and post-increment in a loop?

Question

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

Answer 1

Since you ask about the difference in a loop, i guess you mean

for(int i=0; i<10; i++) 
    ...;

In that case, you have no difference in most languages: The loop behaves the same regardless of whether you write i++ and ++i. In C++, you can write your own versions of the ++ operators, and you can define separate meanings for them, if the i is of a user defined type (your own class, for example).

The reason why it doesn't matter above is because you don't use the value of i++. Another thing is when you do

for(int i=0, a = 0; i<10; a = i++) 
    ...;

Now, there is a difference, because as others point out, i++ means increment, but evaluate to the previous value, but ++i means increment, but evaluate to i (thus it would evaluate to the new value). In the above case, a is assigned the previous value of i, while i is incremented.

Answer 2

As @Jon B says, there is no difference in a for loop.

But in a while or do...while loop, you could find some differences if you are making a comparison with the ++i or i++

while(i++ < 10) { ... } //compare then increment

while(++i < 10) { ... } //increment then compare

Answer 3

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 4

As this code shows (see the dissambled MSIL in the comments), the C# 3 compiler makes no distinction between i++ and ++i in a for loop. If the value of i++ or ++i were being taken, there would definitely be a difference (this was compiled in Visutal Studio 2008 / Release Build):

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;

namespace PreOrPostIncrement
{
    class Program
    {
        static int SomethingToIncrement;

        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            PreIncrement(1000);
            PostIncrement(1000);
            Console.WriteLine("SomethingToIncrement={0}", SomethingToIncrement);
        }

        static void PreIncrement(int count)
        {
            /*
            .method private hidebysig static void  PreIncrement(int32 count) cil managed
            {
              // Code size       25 (0x19)
              .maxstack  2
              .locals init ([0] int32 i)
              IL_0000:  ldc.i4.0
              IL_0001:  stloc.0
              IL_0002:  br.s       IL_0014
              IL_0004:  ldsfld     int32 PreOrPostIncrement.Program::SomethingToIncrement
              IL_0009:  ldc.i4.1
              IL_000a:  add
              IL_000b:  stsfld     int32 PreOrPostIncrement.Program::SomethingToIncrement
              IL_0010:  ldloc.0
              IL_0011:  ldc.i4.1
              IL_0012:  add
              IL_0013:  stloc.0
              IL_0014:  ldloc.0
              IL_0015:  ldarg.0
              IL_0016:  blt.s      IL_0004
              IL_0018:  ret
            } // end of method Program::PreIncrement             
             */
            for (int i = 0; i < count; ++i)
            {
                ++SomethingToIncrement;
            }
        }

        static void PostIncrement(int count)
        {
            /*
                .method private hidebysig static void  PostIncrement(int32 count) cil managed
                {
                  // Code size       25 (0x19)
                  .maxstack  2
                  .locals init ([0] int32 i)
                  IL_0000:  ldc.i4.0
                  IL_0001:  stloc.0
                  IL_0002:  br.s       IL_0014
                  IL_0004:  ldsfld     int32 PreOrPostIncrement.Program::SomethingToIncrement
                  IL_0009:  ldc.i4.1
                  IL_000a:  add
                  IL_000b:  stsfld     int32 PreOrPostIncrement.Program::SomethingToIncrement
                  IL_0010:  ldloc.0
                  IL_0011:  ldc.i4.1
                  IL_0012:  add
                  IL_0013:  stloc.0
                  IL_0014:  ldloc.0
                  IL_0015:  ldarg.0
                  IL_0016:  blt.s      IL_0004
                  IL_0018:  ret
                } // end of method Program::PostIncrement
             */
            for (int i = 0; i < count; i++)
            {
                SomethingToIncrement++;
            }
        }
    }
}

Answer 5

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 6

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.