C Token

C tokens
C tokens are the basic buildings blocks in C
language which are constructed together to write a
C program.
Each and every smallest individual units in a C
program is known as C token or a lexical unit.
C tokens can be classified in six types as follows:
① Keywords (e.g., int, while, do …),
② Identifiers (e.g.,main, total, my_var …),
③ Constants (e.g., 10, 20 , - 25.5 … ),
④ Strings (e.g., “total”, “hello” , “DIU” …),
⑤ Special symbols (e.g., (), {} , [] …),
⑥ Operators (e.g., +, /, - , * …)
C tokens
C tokens example
program

where,
 Main, x, y, total – identifier
 {,}, (,) – special symbols
 Int , return – keyword
 10, 20 – constant
 =,+ – operator
 “Total 30” – String
 main, {, }, (, ), int, x, y, total etc– all these are
various tokens
 ① Keywords

② Identifiers

C Keywords ③
④
Constants
Strings
⑤ Special symbols
⑥ Operators

 There are some reserved words in C language whose meaning

are predefined in C compiler, those are called C keywords.
 Each keyword is meant to perform a specific function in a C
program.
 Each keywords has fixed meaning and that cannot be changed
by user.
 We cannot use a keyword as a variable name.

 Since upper case and lowercase characters are not considered

same in C, we can use an uppercase keyword as an identifier.
But it is not considered as good programming practice.
 ① Keywords

Keywords ②
③
Identifiers
Constants
④ Strings
⑤ Special symbols
⑥ Operators
 There are 32 keywords in C which are given below. keywords
are all lowercase.
 ① Keywords
② Identifiers
③ Constants

Identifiers ④
⑤
Strings
Special symbols
⑥ Operators

 Each program elements in a C program are given a name called identifiers.

 Names given to identify variables, functions etc. are examples for identifiers.
 e.g., int x ; here x is a name given to an integer variable.

 Rules for constructing identifier name in C:

 An identifier can be composed of letters (both uppercase and lowercase letters), digits
and underscore only.
 The first character of identifier should be either a letter or an underscore(not any
digit). But, it is discouraged to start an identifier name with an underscore though it is
legal. It is because, identifier that starts with underscore can conflict with system
names. In such cases, compiler will complain about it.
 Punctuation and special characters are not allowed except underscore.
 Identifiers should not be keywords.
 Identifiers are case sensitive.
 There is no rule for the length of an identifier. However, the first 31 characters of an
identifier are discriminated by the compiler. So, the first 31 letters of two identifiers in
a program should be different.
 ① Keywords

Constants ②
③
Identifiers
Constants
④ Strings
⑤ Special symbols
⑥ Operators

 Constants in C refer to fixed values that do not change during

the execution of a program.
 Example: 1, 2.5 , "Programming is fun." etc. are the
example of constants.
 In C, constants can be classified as follows:
 Numeric constants
 Integer constant (Ex: 102, - 5 )
 Real constant (Ex: 3.14, 5.5 )
 Character constants
 Single character constants (Ex: ´A` , ´;` , ´5` )
 String constants ( Ex: “Hello” , “5+4”)
 Backslash character constants (Ex: \n, \r)
 ① Keywords

Integer constants ②
③
Identifiers
Constants
④ Strings
⑤ Special symbols
⑥ Operators
 Integer constants are the numeric constants (constant
associated with number) without any fractional part or
exponential part.
 There are three types of integer constants in C language:
 decimal constant(base 10),
 octal constant(base 8) and
 hexadecimal constant(base 16).

 For example:
 Decimal constants: 0, -9 , 22 etc
 Octal constants: 021, 077, 033 etc
 Hexadecimal constants: 0x7f, 0x2a, 0x521 etc

 Note: Every octal constant starts with 0 and hexadecimal

constant starts with 0x in C programming.
 ① Keywords
② Identifiers
Real Constants ③
④
Constants
Strings
⑤ Special symbols
⑥ Operators

 Real constant, also called Floating point constants are the

numeric constants that has either fractional form or exponent
form.
 For example:
 -2.0
 0.0000234
 -0.22E-5

 Note: Here, E-5 represents 10-5. Thus, -0.22E-5 = -

0.0000022.
 ① Keywords

Single Character ②
③
Identifiers
Constants

Constants ④
⑤
Strings
Special symbols
⑥ Operators

 Single character constants are the constant which use single

quotation around characters.
 For example: 'a', 'l', 'm', 'F' etc.

 All character constants have an equivalent integer value

which are called ASCII Values.
 ① Keywords
② Identifiers

String constants ③
④
Constants
Strings
⑤ Special symbols
⑥ Operators

 A string is a sequence of characters enclosed in double

quotes.
 The sequence of characters may contain letters, numbers,
special characters and blank spaces.
 String constants are the constants which are enclosed in a
pair of double-quote marks.
 For example:
 "good" // string constant
 "" // null string constant
" " // string constant of six white space
 "x" // string constant having single character.
Backslash Character ① Keywords

Constant
② Identifiers
③ Constants
④ Strings
⑤ Special symbols
⑥ Operators

Sometimes, it is necessary to use newline(enter),

tab, quotation mark etc. in the program which
either cannot be typed or has special meaning in C
programming.
In such cases, backslash character constant
( escape sequence) are used.
For example: \n is used for newline.
The backslash( \ ) causes "escape" from the normal
way the characters are interpreted by the compiler.
List of Escape ① Keywords

Sequences ②
③
Identifiers
Constants
④ Strings
⑤ Special symbols
⑥ Operators
 ① Keywords

Special Symbols ②
③
Identifiers
Constants
④ Strings
⑤ Special symbols
⑥ Operators

 The following special symbols are used in C having some

special meaning and thus, cannot be used for some other
purpose.
 [] () {} , ; : * … = #

 Braces{}: These opening and ending curly braces marks the

start and end of a block of code containing more than one
executable statement.
 Parentheses(): These special symbols are used to indicate
function calls and function parameters.
 Brackets[]: Opening and closing brackets are used as array
element reference. These indicate single and
multidimensional subscripts.
 ① Keywords
② Identifiers
③ Constants

Operators ④
⑤
Strings
Special symbols
⑥ Operators

 C operators are symbols that triggers an action when applied to C variables and other
objects. The data items on which operators act upon are called operands.

 Depending on the number of operands that an operator can act upon, operators can be
classified as follows:
 Unary Operators: Those operators that require only single operand to act upon are
known as unary operators.
 Binary Operators: Those operators that require two operands to act upon are called
binary operators.
 Ternary Operators: These operators requires three operands to act upon.

 There are many operators, some of which are single characters

~ ! @ % ^ & * - + = | / : ? < >

 While others require two characters ++ -- << >> <= += -= *= /= == |

= %= &= ^= || && !=

 Some even require three characters <<= >>=

 The multiple-character operators can not have white spaces or comments between the
characters.