C: What is the difference between ++i and i++?

Question

In C, what is the difference between using ++i and i++, and which should be used in the incrementation block of a for loop?

Answer 1

i++ and ++i

This little code may help to visualize the difference from a different angle than the already posted answers:

int i = 10, j = 10;
  
printf ("i is %i \n", i);
printf ("i++ is %i \n", i++);
printf ("i is %i \n\n", i);
  
printf ("j is %i \n", j);
printf ("++j is %i \n", ++j);
printf ("j is %i \n", j);

The outcome is:

//Remember that the values are i = 10, and j = 10

i is 10 
i++ is 10     //Assigns (print out), then increments
i is 11 

j is 10 
++j is 11    //Increments, then assigns (print out)
j is 11 

Pay attention to the before and after situations.

for loop

As for which one of them should be used in an incrementation block of a for loop, I think that the best we can do to make a decision is use a good example:

int i, j;

for (i = 0; i <= 3; i++)
    printf (" > iteration #%i", i);

printf ("\n");

for (j = 0; j <= 3; ++j)
    printf (" > iteration #%i", j);

The outcome is:

> iteration #0 > iteration #1 > iteration #2 > iteration #3
> iteration #0 > iteration #1 > iteration #2 > iteration #3 

I don't know about you, but I don't see any difference in its usage, at least in a for loop.