What will be the output of the following C code?
#include <stdio.h>
void main()
{
int a = -5;
int k = (a++, ++a);
printf("%d\n", k);
}
Answer: A
Correct answer: -3
The comma operator evaluates its left operand, discards the result, then evaluates the right and yields that value.
So a++ runs first, taking a from −5 to −4 and yielding −5, which is thrown away. Then ++a takes a to −3 and yields −3, which is assigned to k. The comma also introduces a sequence point, so the two modifications of a are properly ordered and the behaviour is defined.
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