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Chapter Six

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5 views13 pages

Chapter Six

Uploaded by

Elisha Mwendwa
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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C Format Specifier

The Format specifier is a string used in the formatted input and output functions. The
format string determines the format of the input and output. The format string always
starts with a '%' character.

The commonly used format specifiers in printf() function are:

Format Description
specifier

%d or %i It is used to print the signed integer value where signed integer means that the variabl
can hold both positive and negative values.

%u It is used to print the unsigned integer value where the unsigned integer means that th
variable can hold only positive value.

%o It is used to print the octal unsigned integer where octal integer value always starts wit
a 0 value.

%x It is used to print the hexadecimal unsigned integer where the hexadecimal integer valu
always starts with a 0x value. In this, alphabetical characters are printed in small letter
such as a, b, c, etc.

%X It is used to print the hexadecimal unsigned integer, but %X prints the alphabetic
characters in uppercase such as A, B, C, etc.

%f It is used for printing the decimal floating-point values. By default, it prints the 6 value
after '.'.

%e/%E It is used for scientific notation. It is also known as Mantissa or Exponent.

%g It is used to print the decimal floating-point values, and it uses the fixed precision, i.e
the value after the decimal in input would be exactly the same as the value in the outpu

%p It is used to print the address in a hexadecimal form.

%c It is used to print the unsigned character.

%s It is used to print the strings.


%ld It is used to print the long-signed integer value.

Let's understand the format specifiers in detail through an example.

o %d

1. int main()
2. {
3. int b=6;
4. int c=8;
5. printf("Value of b is:%d", b);
6. printf("\nValue of c is:%d",c);
7.
8. return 0;
9. }

In the above code, we are printing the integer value of b and c by using the %d specifier.

Output

o %u
1. int main()
2. {
3. int b=10;
4. int c= -10;
5. printf("Value of b is:%u", b);
6. printf("\nValue of c is:%u",c);
7.
8. return 0;
9. }

In the above program, we are displaying the value of b and c by using an unsigned format
specifier, i.e., %u. The value of b is positive, so %u specifier prints the exact value of b, but
it does not print the value of c as c contains the negative value.

Output

o %o

1. int main()
2. {
3. int a=0100;
4. printf("Octal value of a is: %o", a);
5. printf("\nInteger value of a is: %d",a);
6. return 0;
7. }

In the above code, we are displaying the octal value and integer value of a.

Output

o %x and %X

1. int main()
2. {
3. int y=0xA;
4. printf("Hexadecimal value of y is: %x", y);
5. printf("\nHexadecimal value of y is: %X",y);
6. printf("\nInteger value of y is: %d",y);
7. return 0;
8. }
In the above code, y contains the hexadecimal value 'A'. We display the hexadecimal value
of y in two formats. We use %x and %X to print the hexadecimal value where %x displays
the value in small letters, i.e., 'a' and %X displays the value in a capital letter, i.e., 'A'.

Output

o %f

1. int main()
2. {
3. float y=3.4;
4. printf("Floating point value of y is: %f", y);
5. return 0;
6. }

The above code prints the floating value of y.

Output
o %e

1. int main()
2. {
3. float y=3;
4. printf("Exponential value of y is: %e", y);
5. return 0;
6. }

Output

o %E
1. int main()
2. {
3. float y=3;
4. printf("Exponential value of y is: %E", y);
5. return 0;
6. }

Output

o %g

1. int main()
2. {
3. float y=3.8;
4. printf("Float value of y is: %g", y);
5. return 0;
6. }

In the above code, we are displaying the floating value of y by using %g specifier. The %g
specifier displays the output same as the input with a same precision.
Output

o %p

1. int main()
2. {
3. int y=5;
4. printf("Address value of y in hexadecimal form is: %p", &y);
5. return 0;
6. }

Output

o %c
1. int main()
2. {
3. char a='c';
4. printf("Value of a is: %c", a);
5. return 0;
6. }

Output

o %s

1. int main()
2. {
3. printf("%s", "javaTpoint");
4. return 0;
5. }

Output
Minimum Field Width Specifier
Suppose we want to display an output that occupies a minimum number of spaces on the
screen. You can achieve this by displaying an integer number after the percent sign of the
format specifier.

1. int main()
2. {
3. int x=900;
4. printf("%8d", x);
5. printf("\n%-8d",x);
6. return 0;
7. }

In the above program, %8d specifier displays the value after 8 spaces while %-8d specifier
will make a value left-aligned.

Output
Now we will see how to fill the empty spaces. It is shown in the below code:

1. int main()
2. {
3. int x=12;
4. printf("%08d", x);
5. return 0;
6. }

In the above program, %08d means that the empty space is filled with zeroes.

Output
Specifying Precision
We can specify the precision by using '.' (Dot) operator which is followed by integer and
format specifier.

1. int main()
2. {
3. float x=12.2;
4. printf("%.2f", x);
5. return 0;
6. }

Output

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