-- (decrement)

Availability

Flash Player 4.

Usage

--expression
expression--

Parameters

None.

Returns

A number.

Description

Operator (arithmetic); a pre-decrement and post-decrement unary operator that subtracts 1 from the expression. The pre-decrement form of the operator (--expression) subtracts 1 from expression and returns the result. The post-decrement form of the operator (expression--) subtracts 1 from the expression and returns the initial value of expression (the value prior to the subtraction).

Example

The pre-decrement form of the operator decrements x to 2 (x - 1 = 2), and returns the result as y:

x = 3;
y = --x;
//y is equal to 2

The post-decrement form of the operator decrements x to 2 (x - 1 = 2), and returns the original value of x as the result y:

x = 3; 
y = x--
//y is equal to 3