Question

Here is my code snippet:

int a;
if(a=8)
    cout<<"Its right";
else
    cout<<"Not at all";
getch();
return(0);

I’m getting the output Its right while I’ve not give any input there its just a assignment to the a=8.

**Borland Compiler** gives the following 2 warnings and executes the code.

1: Possible incorrect assignment (a=8)

2: ‘a’ is assigned a value that is never used.

Answer 1

When you write:

if(a=8)

You’re assigning 8 to the variable a, and returning a, so you’re effectively writing:

a = 8;
if(a)

This is non-zero, and hence treated as “true”.

I (and the compiler) suspect you intended to write (note == instead of =):

if(a==8)

This is why you get the warnings. (Note that, in this case, a is still uninitialized, so the behavior is undefined. You will still get a warning, and may still return true…)