What is the decrement operator?

The decrement operator is a unary operator that decreases the value of its operand by one. For example, the expression a– decreases the value of a by 1. This statement is equivalent to the expression a = a – 1.

The decrement operator can be used in either of the two forms given below:

1. Prefix form: In the prefix form, it appears before the operand. For example, –a;
2. Postfix form: In the postfix form, it appears after the operand. For example, a–;

In both forms given here, the decrement operator decreases the value of the operand (a) by 1. However, when these two expressions are a part of a larger expression, they create a significant difference in the value of the expression. For example,

b = –a;
b = a–;

In the first statement, due to the pre-decrement operator, the value of operand a is first decreased by 1 and then this new value of a is assigned to variable b. On the other hand, in the second statement, due to the post-decrement operator, the initial value of variable a is first assigned to variable b and then the value of a is decreased by 1.

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