Data Types in C programming language

A data type in c programming language specifies the type of data that a variable can store. There are the following data types in C language.

SL No	Data Types
1.	Basic Data Types : int, char, float, double
2.	Derived Data Type : array, pointer, structure, union
3.	Enumeration Data Type : enum
4.	Void Data Type : void

Basic Data Types :  The basic data types are integer-based and floating-point based. C language supports both signed and unsigned literals.

The following table provides the details of standard integer types with their storage sizes and value ranges :

Types	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 sizeof operator. The expressions sizeof(type) yields the storage size of the object or type in bytes. Given below 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;
}

Output :

Storage size for int : 4

The following table provides the details of standard floating types with storage sizes and value ranges :

Types	Storage Size	Value Range
float	4 byte	1.2E-38 to 3.4E+38
double	8 byte	2.3E-308 to 1.7E+308
long double	10 byte	3.4E-4932 to 1.1E+4932

The following example prints the 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;
}

Output :

Storage size for float : 4
Minimum float positive value: 1.175494E-38
Maximum float positive value: 3.402823E+38
Precision value: 6

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