In C# is there any difference between += and =+?

Question

If I go

variable1 =+ variable2
variable1 += variable2

I get the same result for variable1.

So is there any difference?

Answer 1

The difference is that your observation is not correct and variable1 =+ variable2 does not add variable2 to variable1, but rather sets variable1 equal to variable2. The line is really variable1 = +variable2, or simply variable1 = variable2.

Consider this code

int a = 10;
int b = 20;

a =+ b;
a += b;

At the end of this process, a equals 40. It is intialized to 10, b is initialized to 20, a is set equal to b, and then b gets added to a.

Answer 2

Yes there is a difference.

int x = 0; 

x += 1; --> x = x + 1; (you are adding 1 to x)

x =+ 1; --> x = +1; (you are assigning x a value)

Answer 3

Yes, using a toy example I show them as different.

• In the case of variable1 =+ variable2 you're effectively computing

  variable1 = 0 + variable2
  

  or simply

  variable1 = variable2
  

• In the case of variable1 += variable2 you're effectively computing

  variable1 = variable1 + variable2
  

Answer 4

Perhaps it's best to state that there is no =+ operator in C#. But you can use a unary + to indicate a positive number (always redundant, but included for completeness).

And for completeness of this answer, x += y is the same as x = x + y.