C tutorials and references frequently talk about the “order of evaluation” of expressions in C. On the face of it this is not unreasonable; it does make sense in algebra, after all. However, in C (and most languages that derive from it), the order in which things are evaluated is rarely specified at all. For example, in the following expression:

(x = y) + x

the expression in parenthesis is not evaluated first. In fact, the evaluation of (x = y) relative to the other evaluation of x is not ordered at all, and this expression causes undefined behaviour. Similarly, given an expression like:

a() + b() * c()

a(), b(), and c() must be evaluated in a particular order, but it is unspecified which order, and a strictly conforming program could not depend on the order being consistent with the grouping of the operands.

an incomplete guide to the actual order of evaluation

• for the majority of operators, the order in which their operands are evaluated is unspecified
• &&, ||, ?: and , sequence the evaluation of their operands left-to-right
• assignment operators sequence the update of their left operand after the evaluation of their operands (so a = a + 1 is well-defined). This does not imply sequencing relative to any other operations, so a = a++ contains unsequenced updates to a and hence is undefined.

related common misconceptions

• The , in the parameter list of a function call is not the comma operator, and does not sequence its operands.
• Operators that prevent their operands being evaluated (&& and so on) do so regardless of the precedence of any part of their operand.