11/10/2014
C – Data Types:
There are four data types in C language. They are,
S.no Types Data Types
1 Basic data types int, char, float, double
2 Enumeration data type enum
3 Derived data type pointer, array, structure, union
4 Void data type void
1. Basic data types in C:
1.1. Integer data type:
• Integer data type allows a variable to store numeric values.
• “int” keyword is used to refer integer data type.
• The storage size of int data type is 2 or 4 or 8 byte.
• It varies depend upon the processor in the CPU that we use. If
we are using 16 bit processor, 2 byte (16 bit) of memory will
be allocated for int data type.
• Like wise, 4 byte (32 bit) of memory for 32 bit processor and 8
byte (64 bit) of memory for 64 bit processor is allocated for int
datatype.
• int (2 byte) can store values from -32,768 to +32,767
• int (4 byte) can store values from -2,147,483,648 to
+2,147,483,647.
• If you want to use the integer value that crosses the above
limit, you can go for “long int” and “long long int” for which the
limits are very high.
Note:
• We can’t store decimal values using int data type.
• If we use int data type to store decimal values, decimal values
will be truncated and we will get only whole number.
• In this case, float data type can be used to store decimal
values in a variable.
1.2. Character data type:
• Character data type allows a variable to store only one
character.
• Storage size of character data type is 1. We can store only one
character using character data type.
• “char” keyword is used to refer character data type.
• For example, ‘A’ can be stored using char datatype. You can’t
store more than one character using char data type.
• Please refer C – Strings topic to know how to store more than
one characters in a variable.
1.3. Floating point data type:
Floating point data type consists of 2 types. They are,
1. float
2. double
1. float:
• Float data type allows a variable to store decimal values.
• Storage size of float data type is 4. This also varies depend
upon the processor in the CPU as “int” data type.
• We can use up-to 6 digits after decimal using float data type.
• For example, 10.456789 can be stored in a variable using
float data type.
2. double:
• Double data type is also same as float data type which allows
up-to 10 digits after decimal.
• The range for double datatype is from 1E–37 to 1E+37.