C data types#stddef.h

The C language provides the four basic arithmetic type specifiers {{mono|char}}, {{mono|int}}, {{mono|float}} and {{mono|double}} (as well as the boolean type {{mono|bool}}), and the modifiers {{mono|signed}}, {{mono|unsigned}}, {{mono|short}}, and {{mono|long}}. The following table lists the permissible combinations in specifying a large set of storage size-specific declarations.

{{noteslist}}

The actual size of the integer types varies by implementation. The standard requires only size relations between the data types and minimum sizes for each data type:

The relation requirements are that the {{mono|long long}} is not smaller than {{mono|long}}, which is not smaller than {{mono|int}}, which is not smaller than {{mono|short}}. As {{mono|char}}'s size is always the minimum supported data type, no other data types (except bit-fields) can be smaller.

The minimum size for {{mono|char}} is 8 bits, the minimum size for {{mono|short}} and {{mono|int}} is 16 bits, for {{mono|long}} it is 32 bits and {{mono|long long}} must contain at least 64 bits.

The type {{mono|int}} should be the integer type that the target processor is most efficiently working with. This allows great flexibility: for example, all types can be 64-bit. However, several different integer width schemes (data models) are popular. Because the data model defines how different programs communicate, a uniform data model is used within a given operating system application interface.{{cite web|url=http://www.unix.org/version2/whatsnew/lp64_wp.html | title=64-Bit Programming Models: Why LP64? |publisher=The Open Group | access-date=9 November 2011}}

In practice, {{mono|char}} is usually 8 bits in size and {{mono|short}} is usually 16 bits in size (as are their unsigned counterparts). This holds true for platforms as diverse as 1990s SunOS 4 Unix, Microsoft MS-DOS, modern Linux, and Microchip MCC18 for embedded 8-bit PIC microcontrollers. POSIX requires {{mono|char}} to be exactly 8 bits in size.{{Cite web |title=Width of Type (The GNU C Library) |url=https://www.gnu.org/software/libc/manual/html_node/Width-of-Type.html |access-date=2022-07-30 |website=www.gnu.org}}{{Cite web |title= |url=https://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/basedefs/limits.h.html |access-date=2022-07-30 |website=pubs.opengroup.org}}

Various rules in the C standard make {{mono|unsigned char}} the basic type used for arrays suitable to store arbitrary non-bit-field objects: its lack of padding bits and trap representations, the definition of object representation, and the possibility of aliasing.{{cite book | url=https://www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg14/www/docs/n1256.pdf | title=ISO/IEC 9899:1999 specification, TC3 | at=p. 67, § 6.5 Expressions}}

The actual size and behavior of floating-point types also vary by implementation. The only requirement is that {{mono|long double}} is not smaller than {{mono|double}}, which is not smaller than {{mono|float}}. Usually, the 32-bit and 64-bit IEEE 754 binary floating-point formats are used for {{mono|float}} and {{mono|double}} respectively.

The C99 standard includes new real floating-point types {{mono|float_t}} and {{mono|double_t}}, defined in <math.h>. They correspond to the types used for the intermediate results of floating-point expressions when {{mono|FLT_EVAL_METHOD}} is 0, 1, or 2. These types may be wider than {{mono|long double}}.

C99 also added complex types: {{mono|float _Complex}}, {{mono|double _Complex}}, {{mono|long double _Complex}}. C11 added imaginary types (which were described in an informative annex of C99): {{mono|float _Imaginary}}, {{mono|double _Imaginary}}, {{mono|long double _Imaginary}}. Including the header <complex.h> allows all these types to be accessed with using {{mono|complex}} and {{mono|imaginary}} respectively.

C99 added a Boolean data type {{mono|_Bool}}. Additionally, the <stdbool.h> header defines {{mono|bool}} as a convenient alias for this type, and also provides macros for true and false. {{mono|_Bool}} functions similarly to a normal integer type, with one exception: any assignments to a {{mono|_Bool}} that are not 0 (false) are stored as 1 (true). This behavior exists to avoid integer overflows in implicit narrowing conversions. For example, in the following code:

In C23, the boolean type was moved to {{mono|bool}}, making the header now useless.

unsigned char b = 256;

if (b) {

/* do something */

}

Variable b evaluates to false if {{mono|unsigned char}} has a size of 8 bits. This is because the value 256 does not fit in the data type, which results in the lower 8 bits of it being used, resulting in a zero value. However, changing the type causes the previous code to behave normally:

_Bool b = 256;

if (b) {

/* do something */

}

The type {{mono|_Bool}} also ensures true values always compare equal to each other:

_Bool a = 1, b = 2;

if (a == b) {

/* this code will run */

}

In C23, {{mono|bool}} became a core functionality of the language, allowing for the following examples of code:

bool b = true;

if (b) {

/* this code will run */

}

Since C23, the language allows the programmer to define integers that have a width of an arbitrary number of bits. Those types are specified as {{code|_BitInt(N)|lang=c}}, where N is an integer constant expression that denotes the number of bits, including the sign bit for signed types, represented in two's complement. The maximum value of N is provided by BITINT_MAXWIDTH and is at least ULLONG_WIDTH. Therefore, the type {{code|_BitInt(2)|lang=c}} (or {{code|signed _BitInt(2)|lang=c}}) takes values from −2 to 1 while {{code|unsigned _BitInt(2)|lang=c}} takes values from 0 to 3. The type {{code|unsigned _BitInt(1)|lang=c}} also exists, being either 0 or 1 and has no equivalent signed type.{{cite book | url=https://open-std.org/JTC1/SC22/WG14/www/docs/n3096.pdf| title=ISO/IEC 9899:2023 specification draft| at=p. 37, § 6.2.5 Types}}

The C language specification includes the {{mono|typedef}}s {{mono|size_t}} and {{mono|ptrdiff_t}} to represent memory-related quantities. Their size is defined according to the target processor's arithmetic capabilities, not the memory capabilities, such as available address space. Both of these types are defined in the header (cstddef in C++).

{{mono|size_t}} is an unsigned integer type used to represent the size of any object (including arrays) in the particular implementation. The operator {{mono|sizeof}} yields a value of the type {{mono|size_t}}. The maximum size of {{mono|size_t}} is provided via SIZE_MAX, a macro constant which is defined in the <stdint.h> header (cstdint header in C++). {{mono|size_t}} is guaranteed to be at least 16 bits wide. Additionally, POSIX includes {{mono|ssize_t}}, which is a signed integer type of the same width as {{mono|size_t}}.

{{mono|ptrdiff_t}} is a signed integer type used to represent the difference between pointers. It is guaranteed to be valid only against pointers of the same type; subtraction of pointers consisting of different types is implementation-defined.

Information about the actual properties, such as size, of the basic arithmetic types, is provided via macro constants in two headers: header (climits header in C++) defines macros for integer types and header (cfloat header in C++) defines macros for floating-point types. The actual values depend on the implementation.

• CHAR_BIT – size of the char type in bits, commonly referred to as the size of a byte (at least 8 bits)
• SCHAR_MIN, SHRT_MIN, INT_MIN, LONG_MIN, LLONG_MIN(C99) – minimum possible value of signed integer types: signed char, signed short, signed int, signed long, signed long long
• SCHAR_MAX, SHRT_MAX, INT_MAX, LONG_MAX, LLONG_MAX(C99) – maximum possible value of signed integer types: signed char, signed short, signed int, signed long, signed long long
• UCHAR_MAX, USHRT_MAX, UINT_MAX, ULONG_MAX, ULLONG_MAX(C99) – maximum possible value of unsigned integer types: unsigned char, unsigned short, unsigned int, unsigned long, unsigned long long
• CHAR_MIN – minimum possible value of char
• CHAR_MAX – maximum possible value of char
• MB_LEN_MAX – maximum number of bytes in a multibyte character
• BOOL_WIDTH (C23) - bit width of _Bool, always 1
• CHAR_WIDTH (C23) - bit width of char; CHAR_WIDTH, UCHAR_WIDTH and SCHAR_WIDTH are equal to CHAR_BIT by definition
• SCHAR_WIDTH, SHRT_WIDTH, INT_WIDTH, LONG_WIDTH, LLONG_WIDTH (C23) - bit width of signed char, short, int, long, and long long respectively
• UCHAR_WIDTH, USHRT_WIDTH, UINT_WIDTH, ULONG_WIDTH, ULLONG_WIDTH (C23) - bit width of unsigned char, unsigned short, unsigned int, unsigned long, and unsigned long long respectively

• FLT_MIN, DBL_MIN, LDBL_MIN – minimum normalized positive value of float, double, long double respectively
• FLT_TRUE_MIN, DBL_TRUE_MIN, LDBL_TRUE_MIN (C11) – minimum positive value of float, double, long double respectively
• FLT_MAX, DBL_MAX, LDBL_MAX – maximum finite value of float, double, long double, respectively
• FLT_ROUNDS – rounding mode for floating-point operations
• FLT_EVAL_METHOD (C99) – evaluation method of expressions involving different floating-point types
• FLT_RADIX – radix of the exponent in the floating-point types
• FLT_DIG, DBL_DIG, LDBL_DIG – number of decimal digits that can be represented without losing precision by float, double, long double, respectively
• FLT_EPSILON, DBL_EPSILON, LDBL_EPSILON – difference between 1.0 and the next representable value of float, double, long double, respectively
• FLT_MANT_DIG, DBL_MANT_DIG, LDBL_MANT_DIG – number of FLT_RADIX-base digits in the floating-point significand for types float, double, long double, respectively
• FLT_MIN_EXP, DBL_MIN_EXP, LDBL_MIN_EXP – minimum negative integer such that FLT_RADIX raised to a power one less than that number is a normalized float, double, long double, respectively
• FLT_MIN_10_EXP, DBL_MIN_10_EXP, LDBL_MIN_10_EXP – minimum negative integer such that 10 raised to that power is a normalized float, double, long double, respectively
• FLT_MAX_EXP, DBL_MAX_EXP, LDBL_MAX_EXP – maximum positive integer such that FLT_RADIX raised to a power one less than that number is a normalized float, double, long double, respectively
• FLT_MAX_10_EXP, DBL_MAX_10_EXP, LDBL_MAX_10_EXP – maximum positive integer such that 10 raised to that power is a normalized float, double, long double, respectively
• DECIMAL_DIG (C99) – minimum number of decimal digits such that any number of the widest supported floating-point type can be represented in decimal with a precision of DECIMAL_DIG digits and read back in the original floating-point type without changing its value. DECIMAL_DIG is at least 10.

The C99 standard includes definitions of several new integer types to enhance the portability of programs. The already available basic integer types were deemed insufficient, because their actual sizes are implementation defined and may vary across different systems. The new types are especially useful in embedded environments where hardware usually supports only several types and that support varies between different environments. All new types are defined in header (cinttypes header in C++) and also are available at header (cstdint header in C++). The types can be grouped into the following categories:

• Exact-width integer types that are guaranteed to have the same number n of bits across all implementations. Included only if it is available in the implementation.
• Least-width integer types that are guaranteed to be the smallest type available in the implementation, that has at least specified number n of bits. Guaranteed to be specified for at least N=8,16,32,64.
• Fastest integer types that are guaranteed to be the fastest integer type available in the implementation, that has at least specified number n of bits. Guaranteed to be specified for at least N=8,16,32,64.
• Pointer integer types that are guaranteed to be able to hold a pointer. Included only if it is available in the implementation.
• Maximum-width integer types that are guaranteed to be the largest integer type in the implementation.

The following table summarizes the types and the interface to acquire the implementation details (n refers to the number of bits):

{{Main|printf format string

|scanf format string}}

The header (cinttypes in C++) provides features that enhance the functionality of the types defined in the header. It defines macros for printf format string and scanf format string specifiers corresponding to the types defined in and several functions for working with the intmax_t and uintmax_t types. This header was added in C99.

The macros are in the format PRI{fmt}{type}. Here {fmt} defines the output formatting and is one of d (decimal), x (hexadecimal), o (octal), u (unsigned) and i (integer). {type} defines the type of the argument and is one of n, FASTn, LEASTn, PTR, MAX, where n corresponds to the number of bits in the argument.

The macros are in the format SCN{fmt}{type}. Here {fmt} defines the output formatting and is one of d (decimal), x (hexadecimal), o (octal), u (unsigned) and i (integer). {type} defines the type of the argument and is one of n, FASTn, LEASTn, PTR, MAX, where n corresponds to the number of bits in the argument.

{{expand section|date=October 2011}}

Similarly to the fixed-width integer types, ISO/IEC TS 18661 specifies floating-point types for IEEE 754 interchange and extended formats in binary and decimal:

• _FloatN for binary interchange formats;
• _DecimalN for decimal interchange formats;
• _FloatNx for binary extended formats;
• _DecimalNx for decimal extended formats.

Structures aggregate the storage of multiple data items, of potentially differing data types, into one memory block referenced by a single variable. The following example declares the data type struct birthday which contains the name and birthday of a person. The structure definition is followed by a declaration of the variable John that allocates the needed storage.

struct birthday {

char name[20];

int day;

int month;

int year;

};

struct birthday John;

The memory layout of a structure is a language implementation issue for each platform, with a few restrictions. The memory address of the first member must be the same as the address of structure itself. Structures may be initialized or assigned to using compound literals. A function may directly return a structure, although this is often not efficient at run-time. Since C99, a structure may also end with a flexible array member.

A structure containing a pointer to a structure of its own type is commonly used to build linked data structures:

struct node {

int val;

struct node *next;

};

For every type T, except void and function types, there exist the types "array of N elements of type T". An array is a collection of values, all of the same type, stored contiguously in memory. An array of size N is indexed by integers from 0 up to and including N−1. Here is a brief example:

int cat[10]; // array of 10 elements, each of type int

Arrays can be initialized with a compound initializer, but not assigned. Arrays are passed to functions by passing a pointer to the first element. Multidimensional arrays are defined as "array of array …", and all except the outermost dimension must have compile-time constant size:

int a[10][8]; // array of 10 elements, each of type 'array of 8 int elements'

{{See also|Pointer (computer programming)#C pointers}}

Every data type T has a corresponding type pointer to T. A pointer is a data type that contains the address of a storage location of a variable of a particular type. They are declared with the asterisk (*) type declarator following the basic storage type and preceding the variable name. Whitespace before or after the asterisk is optional.

char *square;

long *circle;

int *oval;

Pointers may also be declared for pointer data types, thus creating multiple indirect pointers, such as {{mono|char **}} and {{mono|int ***}}, including pointers to array types. The latter are less common than an array of pointers, and their syntax may be confusing:

char *pc[10]; // array of 10 elements of 'pointer to char'

char (*pa)[10]; // pointer to a 10-element array of char

The element pc requires ten blocks of memory of the size of pointer to char (usually 40 or 80 bytes on common platforms), but element pa is only one pointer (size 4 or 8 bytes), and the data it refers to is an array of ten bytes ({{code|1=sizeof *pa == 10|2=c}}).

{{See also|Union type#C/C++}}

A union type is a special construct that permits access to the same memory block by using a choice of differing type descriptions. For example, a union of data types may be declared to permit reading the same data either as an integer, a float, or any other user declared type:

union {

int i;

float f;

struct {

unsigned int u;

double d;

} s;

} u;

The total size of u is the size of u.s – which happens to be the sum of the sizes of u.s.u and u.s.d – since s is larger than both i and f. When assigning something to u.i, some parts of u.f may be preserved if u.i is smaller than u.f.

Reading from a union member is not the same as casting since the value of the member is not converted, but merely read.

Function pointers allow referencing functions with a particular signature. For example, to store the address of the standard function abs in the variable my_int_f:

int (*my_int_f)(int) = &abs;

// the & operator can be omitted, but makes clear that the "address of" abs is used here

Function pointers are invoked by name just like normal function calls. Function pointers are separate from pointers and void pointers.

{{Main|Type qualifier}}

The aforementioned types can be characterized further by type qualifiers, yielding a qualified type. {{as of|2014}} and C11, there are four type qualifiers in standard C: const (C89), volatile (C89), restrict (C99) and _Atomic (C11){{snd}} the latter has a private name to avoid clashing with user names,[https://www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg21/docs/papers/2013/n3631.pdf C11:The New C Standard], Thomas Plum but the more ordinary name atomic can be used if the header is included. Of these, const is by far the best-known and most used, appearing in the standard library and encountered in any significant use of the C language, which must satisfy const-correctness. The other qualifiers are used for low-level programming, and while widely used there, are rarely used by typical programmers.{{citation needed|date=September 2015}}

{{Wikibooks|C Programming|Variables}}

• C syntax
• Uninitialized variable
• Integer (computer science)
• Offsetof

{{Reflist}}

{{C programming language}}

{{Data types}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:C Variable Types And Declarations}}

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