CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c
jack
jack

Reputation: 491

Range of char type values in C

Is it possible to store more than a byte value to a char type?

Say for example char c; and I want to store 1000 in c. is it possible to do that?

Upvotes: 1

Views: 9284

Answers (6)

paxdiablo
paxdiablo

Reputation: 881463

Technically, no, you can't store more than a byte value to a char type. In C, a char and a byte are the same size, but not necessarily limited to 8 bits. Many standards bodies tend to use the term "octet" for an exactly-8-bit value.

If you look inside limits.h (from memory), you'll see the CHAR_BIT symbol (among others) telling you how many bits are actually used for a char and, if this is large enough then, yes, it can store the value 1000.

Upvotes: 12

YSN
YSN

Reputation: 164

Char's width is system-dependent. But assuming you're using something reasonably C99-compatible, you should have access to a header stdint.h, which defines types of the formats intN_t and uintN_t where N=8,16,32,64. These are guaranteed to be at least N bits wide. So if you want to be certain to have a type with a certain amount of bits (regardless of system), those are the guys you want.

Example:

#include <stdint.h>

uint32_t foo; /* Unsigned, 32 bits */
int16_t bar;  /* Signed, 16 bits */

Upvotes: 0

John Bode
John Bode

Reputation: 123468

The minimum size for a char in C is 8 bits, which is not wide enough to hold more than 256 values. It may be wider in a particular implementation such as a word-addressable architecture, but you shouldn't rely on that.

Upvotes: 3

leonbloy
leonbloy

Reputation: 75906

The range of values you can store in a C type depends on its size, and that is not specified by C, it depends on the architecture. A char type has a minimum of 8 bits. And typically (almost universally) that's also its maximum (you can check it in your limits.h). Hence, in a char you will be able to store from -128 to 127, or from 0 to 255 (signed or unsigned).

Upvotes: 5

David Gelhar
David Gelhar

Reputation: 27900

Probably not. The C standard requires that a char can hold at least 8 bits, so you can't depend on being able to store a value longer than 8 bits in a char portably.

(* In most commonly-used systems today, chars are 8 bits).

Upvotes: 1

Nikolai Fetissov
Nikolai Fetissov

Reputation: 84169

Include limits.h and check the value of CHAR_MAX.

Upvotes: 2

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