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Data Types in C

This document discusses C programming data types. It explains that variables must be declared before use and defines data types as referring to the size and type of data associated with variables. It outlines fundamental data types like integer, floating point, and character, as well as derived types like arrays, pointers, and structures. The bulk of the document focuses on the integer, floating point, and character fundamental data types, explaining their declaration syntax and properties. It also discusses C qualifiers that alter data types, such as size qualifiers like long and short, as well as sign, constant, and volatile qualifiers.

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280 views

Data Types in C

This document discusses C programming data types. It explains that variables must be declared before use and defines data types as referring to the size and type of data associated with variables. It outlines fundamental data types like integer, floating point, and character, as well as derived types like arrays, pointers, and structures. The bulk of the document focuses on the integer, floating point, and character fundamental data types, explaining their declaration syntax and properties. It also discusses C qualifiers that alter data types, such as size qualifiers like long and short, as well as sign, constant, and volatile qualifiers.

Uploaded by

Sasa Gluhic
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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C Programming Data Types

In this tutorial, you will learn about data types and how to declare a variable in C
programming.

In C programming, variables or memory locations should be declared before it can be


used. Similarly, a function also needs to be declared before use.

Data types simply refers to the type and size of data associated
with variables and functions.

Data types in C
1. Fundamental Data Types
o Integer types
o Floating type
o Character type
2. Derived Data Types
o Arrays

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o Pointers
o Structures
o Enumeration

This tutorial will focus on fundamental data types. To learn about derived data types,
visit the corresponding tutorial.

int - Integer data types


Integers are whole numbers that can have both positive and negative values but no
decimal values. Example: 0, -5, 10

In C programming, keyword int is used for declaring integer variable. For example:

int id;

Here, id is a variable of type integer.

You can declare multiple variable at once in C programming. For example:

int id, age;

The size of int is either 2 bytes(In older PC's) or 4 bytes. If you consider an integer
having size of 4 byte( equal to 32 bits), it can take 232 distinct states as: -231,-231+1, ...,-2,
-1, 0, 1, 2, ..., 231-2, 231-1. If you try to store larger number than 231-1, i.e,+2147483647
and smaller number than -231, i.e, -2147483648, program will not run correctly.

Similarly, int of 2 bytes, it can take 216 distinct states from -215 to 215-1.

float - Floating types


Floating type variables can hold real numbers such as: 2.34, -9.382, 5.0 etc. You can
declare a floating point variable in C by using either float or double keyword. For
example:

float accountBalance;

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double bookPrice;

Here, both accountBalance and bookPrice are floating type variables.

In C, floating values can be represented in exponential form as well. For example:

float normalizationFactor = 22.442e2;

Difference between float and double


The size of float (single precision float data type) is 4 bytes. And the size
of double (double precision float data type) is 8 bytes. Floating point variables has a
precision of 6 digits whereas the precision of double is 14 digits.

char - Character types


Keyword char is used for declaring character type variables. For example:

char test = 'h';

Here, test is a character variable. The value of test is 'h'.

The size of character variable is 1 byte.

C Qualifiers
Qualifiers alters the meaning of base data types to yield a new data type.

Size qualifiers
Size qualifiers alters the size of a basic type. There are two size
qualifiers, long and short. For example:

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long double i;

The size of double is 8 bytes. However, when long keyword is used, that variable
becomes 10 bytes.

Learn more about long keyword in C programming.

There is another keyword short which can be used if you previously know the value of a
variable will always be a small number.

Sign qualifiers
Integers and floating point variables can hold both negative and positive values.
However, if a variable needs to hold positive value only, unsigned data types are used.
For example:

// unsigned variables cannot hold negative value

unsigned int positiveInteger;

There is another qualifier signed which can hold both negative and positive only.
However, it is not necessary to define variable signed since a variable is signed by
default.

An integer variable of 4 bytes can hold data from -231 to 231-1. However, if the variable is
defined as unsigned, it can hold data from 0 to 232-1.

It is important to note that, sign qualifiers can be applied to int and char types only.

Constant qualifiers
An identifier can be declared as a constant. To do so const keyword is used.

const int cost = 20;

The value of cost cannot be changed in the program.

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Volatile qualifiers
A variable should be declared volatile whenever its value can be changed by some
external sources outside the program. Keyword volatile is used for creating volatile
variables.

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