Question

Is

--foo++;

a valid statement in C? (Will it compile/run) And is there any practical application for this?

Sorry for changing the question in an edit but I found something out.

According to my C++ compiler (Visual Studio 2010):

--++foo;

is a valid command but

foo--++; 

is not. Is there any reason for this?

Answer 1

No, it is not valid because the result of the increment / decrement operators is not a lvalue.

EDIT: the OP edited his question by adding two more examples . So here we go, for the same reason:

--++foo;
--foo++;
foo--++;

are all invalid expression statements because the result of increment / decrement operators is not a lvalue. A compiler could extend the language and accepts these expressions, but a strictly conforming program cannot contain any of these expressions.