Data Types in C

Data types specify how much amounts of memory requires to each different variables. When we declare any variable it must have been its data type in c which is used to define a variable before to use in a program. Data types determine the size and type of data associated with variables. Different c data types have different storage capabilities.

Add caption

Various data types in C

Primary Data Types (Fundamental Data Type)

User defined Data Types

Derived Data Types

Let us Understand with this statement, X is a variable of char(character) type i.e. X holds only char type value in it. The size of char is 1 byte.

What is data type and explain their types?

Primary Data Types: These are also known as built-in data type or fundamental data type in C language mainly are for non-returning functions (void), for integers (int), for floating-point numbers (float) and for characters (char). int: Integer data type allows whole numbers which contain positive, negative and zero values. float: Float is used to denote floating pointing types. float data type represents decimal numbers. char: Character data type used char keyword and it allows to store single character at a time. void: void type is generally used for describing the type of functions and these functions are also known as non-returning functions because it is void means no value or empty. So, it does not return anything. NOTE: You cannot create variables of void type in programming because it is no value.

User defined Data Types: These are some data types that are defined by the user. There are three types Structure, Union and Enumeration data type. We will learn about these User-defined data types in later tutorials.

Derived Data Types: Data Types derived from fundamental data types using-declaration are known as Derived Data Type. Such as Array, Pointer and reference are examples of a derived data type. We will learn about these derived data types in later tutorials.

Data type in c with range and their format specifier

TYPE	SIZE (bytes)	FORMAT SPECIFIER	RANGE
char	1	%c
double	8	%lf
float	4	%f
int	4	%d	-2,147,483,648 to 2,147,483,647
long double	at least 10, usually 12	%Lf
long int	4	%li	-2,147,483,648 to 2,147,483,647
long long int	at least 8	%lli	-(2^63) to (2^63)-1
short int	2	%hd	-32,768 to 32,767
signed char	1	%c	-128 to 127
unsigned char	1	%c	0 to 255
unsigned int	4	%u	0 to 4,294,967,295
unsigned long int	at least 4	%lu	0 to 4,294,967,295
unsigned long long int	at least 8	%llu	0 to 18,446,744,073,709,551,615

sizeof() Function in C Language

We always use sizeof() operator to find the memory space allocated for each C data types and also to check the size of a variable.

Here below I share example in which I use sizeof() operator to find size of different data types:

Data types in C with examples

#include<stdio.h>

int main()

{

int a;

char b;

float c;



    double d;

    short e;

    long f;

    long long g;

    long double h;

      printf("Storage size for int data type:%d bytes\n",sizeof(a));

      printf("Storage size for char data type:%d bytes\n",sizeof(b));

      printf("Storage size for float data type:%d bytes\n",sizeof(c));

      printf("Storage size for double data type:%d bytes\n",sizeof(d));

      printf("Storage size for short data type:%d bytes\n", sizeof(e));

      printf("Storage size for long data type:%d bytes\n", sizeof(f));

      printf("Storage size for long long data type:%d bytes\n", sizeof(g));

      printf("Storage size for long double data type:%d bytes\n", sizeof(h));

  return 0;

}

PROGRAM OUTPUT

CONCLUSION

In the above article, we learn about different data types in c and also learn briefly about sizeof() operator. If you have any doubts about the above please comment below.

Happy Coding! 😊

Explain Data Types in C