Java Increment and Decrement Operators

In this article, we will learn about java increment and decrement operators with programming examples. 

Java Increment Operator

Java increment operator is one of the arithmetic operators. Increment operator increments the value inside a variable. Increment operator is a unary operator, it operates on one operand. It is represented by ++ symbol.

It has two types:

Pre Increment Operator

In this, ++ operator is written before the variable name.

For example,

int a = 1;

++a;

Now value of a become 2.

Programming Example of Pre Increment Operator

class PreIncrement
{
    public static void main(String[] args)
    {
        int a = 1;
        int b = ++a;
        System.out.println("a = "+a);
        System.out.println("b = "+b);
    }
}

Output:

a = 2
b = 2

Post Increment Operator

In this, ++ operator is written after the variable name.

For example,

int a = 1;

a++;

Now value of a become 2.

Programming Example of Post Increment Operator

class PostIncrement
{
    public static void main(String[] args)
    {
       int a = 1;
       int b = a++;
       System.out.println("a = "+a);
       System.out.println("b = "+b);
    }
}

Output:

a = 2
b = 1

Value of b is 1, because value of a is assigned to b and after assigning, variable a increments.

Java Decrement Operator

Java Decrement operator is one of the arithmetic operator. Decrement operator Decrements the value inside a variable. Decrement operator is a unary operator, it operates on one operand. It is represented by -- symbol.

It has two types:

Pre Decrement Operator

In this, -- operator is written before the variable name.

For example,

int a = 2;

--a;

Now value of a become 1.

Programming Example of Pre Decrement Operator

class PreDecrement
{
    public static void main(String[] args)
    {
 int a = 2;
 int b = --a;
 System.out.println("a = "+a);
 System.out.println("b = "+b);
    }
}

Output:

a = 1
b = 1

Post Decrement Operator

In this, -- operator is written after the variable name.

For example,

int a = 2;

a--;

Now value of a become 1.

Programming Example of Post Decrement Operator

class PostDecrement
{
    public static void main(String[] args)
    {
 int a = 2;
 int b = a--;
 System.out.println("a = "+a);
 System.out.println("b = "+b);
    }
}

Output:

a = 1
b = 2

Value of b is 2, because value of a is assigned to b and after assigning, variable a decrements.