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The IncrementDecrement Operators --

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Variables can be incremented or decremented by 1 using the ++ and -- operators, respectively.

When the ++ and -- operators follow variables, they are called post-increment and post-decrement respectively. 

int a = 10;
a++; // a now equals 11
a--; // a now equals 10 again

When the ++ and -- operators precede the variables the operations are called pre-increment and pre-decrement respectively. 

int x = 10;
--x; // x now equals 9
++x; // x now equals 10

If the operator precedes the variable, the value of the expression is the value of the variable after being incremented or decremented. If the operator follows the variable, the value of the expression is the value of the variable prior to being incremented or decremented. 

int x=10;

System.out.println("x=" + x + " x=" + x++ + " x=" + x); // outputs x=10 x=10 x=11
System.out.println("x=" + x + " x=" + ++x + " x=" + x); // outputs x=11 x=12 x=12
System.out.println("x=" + x + " x=" + x-- + " x=" + x); // outputs x=12 x=12 x=11
System.out.println("x=" + x + " x=" + --x + " x=" + x); // outputs x=11 x=10 x=10

Be careful not to overwrite post-increments or decrements. This happens if you use a post-in/decrement operator at the end of an expression which is reassigned to the in/decremented variable itself. The in/decrement will not have an effect. Even though the variable on the left hand side is incremented correctly, its value will be immediately overwritten with the previously evaluated result from the right hand side of the expression: 

int x = 0; 
x = x++ + 1 + x++;      // x = 0 + 1 + 1 
                        // do not do this - the last increment has no effect (bug!) 
System.out.println(x);  // prints 2 (not 3!)

Correct: 

int x = 0;
x = x++ + 1 + x;        // evaluates to x = 0 + 1 + 1
x++;                    // adds 1
System.out.println(x);  // prints 3
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Operators:
* Operators
* The IncrementDecrement Operators --
* The Conditional Operator
* The Bitwise and Logical Operators
* Checking setting clearing and toggling individual bits. Using long as bit mask
* Operator Precedence
* The Arithmetic Operators -
* The String Concatenation Operator
* The Instanceof Operator
* The Assignment Operators - and
* The conditional-and and conditional-or Operators and
* The Shift Operators and
* The Equality Operators
* The Lambda operator -
* The Relational Operators
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