Data Types: Detailed View

Integer Types

Following table gives you details about standard integer types with its storage sizes and value ranges:

Type	Storage size	Value range
char	1 byte	-128 to 127 or 0 to 255
unsigned char	1 byte	0 to 255
signed char	1 byte	-128 to 127
int	2 or 4 bytes	-32,768 to 32,767 or -2,147,483,648 to 2,147,483,647
unsigned int	2 or 4 bytes	0 to 65,535 or 0 to 4,294,967,295
short	2 bytes	-32,768 to 32,767
unsigned short	2 bytes	0 to 65,535
long	4 bytes	-2,147,483,648 to 2,147,483,647
unsigned long	4 bytes	0 to 4,294,967,295

To get the exact size of a type or a variable on a particular platform, you can use the sizeofoperator. The expressions sizeof(type) yields the storage size of the object or type in bytes. Following is an example to get the size of int type on any machine:

#include <stdio.h>
#include <limits.h>

int main()
{
   printf("Storage size for int : %d \n", sizeof(int));
   
   return 0;
}

Floating-Point Types

Following table gives you details about standard floating-point types with storage sizes and value ranges and their precision:

Type
Storage size
Value range
Precision
float
4 byte
1.2E-38 to 3.4E+38
6 decimal places
double
8 byte
2.3E-308 to 1.7E+308
15 decimal places
long double
10 byte
3.4E-4932 to 1.1E+4932
19 decimal places


The header file float.h defines macros that allow you to use these values and other details about the binary representation of real numbers in your programs. Following example will print storage space taken by a float type and its range values:
#include <stdio.h>
#include <float.h>

int main()
{
   printf("Storage size for float : %d \n", sizeof(float));
   printf("Minimum float positive value: %E\n", FLT_MIN );
   printf("Maximum float positive value: %E\n", FLT_MAX );
   printf("Precision value: %d\n", FLT_DIG );
   
   return 0;
}