Decrement

The decrement operator is a special case of subtraction, and subtracts the a number from a variable. This cannot be used on literals or constants. This operator is a single instruction by itself and can only affect one variable at a time.

FDS

• <variable:number><whitespace>got one less<punctuation>
•  There was one less<whitespace><variable:number><punctuation>

• I would<whitespace> subtract<whitespace><value:number><whitespace> from<whitespace><variable:number><punctuation>

Example

Spike got one less.
 There was one less cider.
I would  subtract Spike  from cider.

This subtracts 1 from the variable Spike and then from cider, and then subtracts Spike from cider.

Its Java equivalent is as follows:

Spike--;
cider--;
cider -= Spike;

See Also

• Subtract
• Increment