Why the output comes like that?

Question

Give the reason for this output.

int main()
{
static int i= 5;
If (--i)
{
main();
printf("%d ", i);
}
}

Output :
0 0 0 0

Answer 1

Since i is static, the same variable i is shared for each and every call to main.

Keep that in mind when you trace the program. Trace it at a low level on your own. I'll make a few comments to explain it from a higher level.

It is only when i is decremented to 0 that if (--i) evaluates to false and main() stops being called.
After main() stops being called, the printf statements run.
0 is printed 4 times because main() is called 5 times total with the deepest call printing nothing.

If you want to paste that code somewhere to run it, you'll need to replace "If" with "if" and add #include <stdio.h> at the top.