What does the operation c=a+++b mean?

Question

The following code has me confused

int a=2,b=5,c; c=a+++b; printf("%d,%d,%d",a,b,c); 

I expected the output to be 3,5,8, mainly because a++ means 2 +1 which equals 3, and 3 + 5 equals 8, so I expected 3,5,8. It turns out that the result is 3,5,7. Can someone explain why this is the case?

Answer 1

It's parsed as c = a++ + b, and a++ means post-increment, i.e. increment after taking the value of a to compute a + b == 2 + 5.

Please, never write code like this.

Answer 2

Maximal Munch Rule applies to such expression, according to which, the expression is parsed as:

c = a++ + b; 

That is, a is post-incremented (a++) and so the current value of a (before post-increment) is taken for + operation with b.