You can, in principle, position two plus signs or two minus signs as suffixes, rather than as prefixes. In either position, the plus signs or minus signs cause a variable's value to change, but, if the incremented or decremented variable is embedded in a larger expression, the value handed over differs. If a variable is prefixed, the value handed over is the new, incremented value; if a variable is suffixed, the value handed over is the old, original value.
Suppose that the value of counter
is 3. Then, the value of the
expression --counter
is 2, and the new value of counter
is 2.
On the other hand, the value of the expression counter--
is 3, even
though the new value of counter
is 2.