C multiple increment operators inside printf

We have already learnt different ways of using increment operators in c programming. In this tutorial we will study the impact of using multiple increment / decrement operators in printf.

Re-commanded Article : Use of Pre/Post increment operator in same expression

Multiple increment operators inside printf

#include<stdio.h>
void main() {
   int i = 1;
   printf("%d %d %d", i, ++i, i++);
}

Output :

3 3 1

Pictorial representation

Sequence of Printing Evaluating Expressions in Printf

Explanation of program

I am sure you will get confused after viewing the above image and output of program.

  1. Whenever more than one format specifiers (i.e %d) are directly or indirectly related with same variable (i,i++,++i) then we need to evaluate each individual expression from right to left.
  2. As shown in the above image evaluation sequence of expressions written inside printf will be - i++,++i,i
  3. After execution we need to replace the output of expression at appropriate place
No Step Explanation
1 Evaluate i++ At the time of execution we will be using older value of i = 1
2 Evaluate ++i At the time of execution we will be increment value already modified after step 1 i.e i = 3
2 Evaluate i At the time of execution we will be using value of i modified in step 2

Below is programmatic representation of intermediate steps -

After Step 1 : printf("%d %d %d",i,++i,1);
After Step 2 : printf("%d %d %d",i,3,1);
After Step 3 : printf("%d %d %d",3,3,1);
After Step 4 : Output displayed - 3,3,1

After solving expressions printing sequence will : i, ++i, i++

Examples of typical expresssions

No Example
1 How to use pre-post increment operators inside same expression ?
2 How to use post increment statement inside expression ?
3 How to use conditional operators in expression ?