c - Adding two numbers without using operators

Question

I found this following code for addition of two numbers without using the + operator.

code to add 3 and 4:

printf("%d",printf("%*c%*c",3,' ',4,' '));

Now printf() returns the number of characters in the result and %*c ignores the next character that it encounters. But still, I am not able to understand this code. Any help would be appreciated.

Answer 1

printf("%*c", n, c) prints the character c, n times. So the code prints 3 spaces followed by 4 spaces, and printf returns the number of characters printed, which is obviously 3 + 4, completing the problem.