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C++ Data Types [C++ Reference]
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<div class="tocheader toctoggle" id="toc__header">Table of Contents</div>
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<li class="clear">
<ul class="toc">
<li class="level2"><div class="li"><span class="li"><a href="#c_data_types" class="toc">C++ Data Types</a></span></div>
<ul class="toc">
<li class="level3"><div class="li"><span class="li"><a href="#type_modifiers" class="toc">Type Modifiers</a></span></div></li>
<li class="level3"><div class="li"><span class="li"><a href="#type_sizes_and_ranges" class="toc">Type Sizes and Ranges</a></span></div></li>
<li class="level3"><div class="li"><span class="li"><a href="#reading_type_declarations" class="toc">Reading Type Declarations</a></span></div></li></ul>
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<h2><a name="c_data_types" id="c_data_types">C++ Data Types</a></h2>
<div class="level2">
<p>
C++ programmers have access to the five data types for C: void, int, float, double, and char.
</p>
<table class="inline">
<tr class="row0">
<th class="col0">Type</th><th class="col1">Description</th>
</tr>
<tr class="row1">
<td class="col0"><code>void</code></td><td class="col1">associated with no data type</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row2">
<td class="col0"><code>int</code></td><td class="col1">integer</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row3">
<td class="col0"><code>float</code></td><td class="col1">floating-point number</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row4">
<td class="col0"><code>double</code></td><td class="col1">double precision floating-point number</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row5">
<td class="col0"><code>char</code></td><td class="col1">character</td>
</tr>
</table>
<p>
In addition, C++ defines two more: <code>bool</code> and <code>wchar_t</code>.
</p>
<table class="inline">
<tr class="row0">
<th class="col0">Type</th><th class="col1">Description</th>
</tr>
<tr class="row1">
<td class="col0"><code>bool</code></td><td class="col1">Boolean value, true or false</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row2">
<td class="col0"><code>wchar_t</code></td><td class="col1">wide character</td>
</tr>
</table>
</div>
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<h3><a name="type_modifiers" id="type_modifiers">Type Modifiers</a></h3>
<div class="level3">
<p>
Several of these types can be modified using the keywords <code>signed</code>, <code>unsigned</code>, <code>short</code>, and <code>long</code>. When one of these type modifiers is used by itself, a data type of <code>int</code> is assumed. A complete list of possible data types follows (equivalent types are displayed in the same row):
</p>
<table class="inline">
<tr class="row0">
<th class="col0" colspan="4">integer types</th>
</tr>
<tr class="row1">
<td class="col0" colspan="4"><code>bool</code></td>
</tr>
<tr class="row2">
<td class="col0" colspan="4"><code>char</code></td>
</tr>
<tr class="row3">
<td class="col0" colspan="4"><code>signed char</code></td>
</tr>
<tr class="row4">
<td class="col0" colspan="4"><code>unsigned char</code></td>
</tr>
<tr class="row5">
<td class="col0" colspan="4"><code>wchar_t</code></td>
</tr>
<tr class="row6">
<td class="col0"><code>short</code></td><td class="col1"><code>short int</code></td><td class="col2"><code>signed short</code></td><td class="col3"><code>signed short int</code></td>
</tr>
<tr class="row7">
<td class="col0" colspan="2"><code>unsigned short</code></td><td class="col2" colspan="2"><code>unsigned short int</code></td>
</tr>
<tr class="row8">
<td class="col0"><code>int</code></td><td class="col1"><code>signed</code></td><td class="col2" colspan="2"><code>signed int</code></td>
</tr>
<tr class="row9">
<td class="col0" colspan="2"><code>unsigned</code></td><td class="col2" colspan="2"><code>unsigned int</code></td>
</tr>
<tr class="row10">
<td class="col0"><code>long</code></td><td class="col1"><code>long int</code></td><td class="col2"><code>signed long</code></td><td class="col3"><code>signed long int</code></td>
</tr>
<tr class="row11">
<td class="col0" colspan="2"><code>unsigned long</code></td><td class="col2" colspan="2"><code>unsigned long int</code></td>
</tr>
<tr class="row12">
<th class="col0" colspan="4">floating point types</th>
</tr>
<tr class="row13">
<td class="col0" colspan="4"><code>float</code></td>
</tr>
<tr class="row14">
<td class="col0" colspan="4"><code>double</code></td>
</tr>
<tr class="row15">
<td class="col0" colspan="4"><code>long double</code></td>
</tr>
<tr class="row16">
<th class="col0" colspan="4">optionally supported integer types</th>
</tr>
<tr class="row17">
<td class="col0"><code>long long</code></td><td class="col1"><code>long long int</code></td><td class="col2"><code>signed long long</code></td><td class="col3"><code>signed long long int</code></td>
</tr>
<tr class="row18">
<td class="col0" colspan="2"><code>unsigned long long</code></td><td class="col2" colspan="2"><code>unsigned long long in</code>t</td>
</tr>
</table>
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<h3><a name="type_sizes_and_ranges" id="type_sizes_and_ranges">Type Sizes and Ranges</a></h3>
<div class="level3">
<p>
The size and range of any data type is compiler and architecture dependent. You can use the <a href="keywords/sizeof.html" class="wikilink1" title="keywords:sizeof">sizeof</a> operator to determine the
size of any data type (frequently expressed as a number of bytes). However, many architectures implement data types of a standard size. <code>ints</code> and <code>floats</code> are often 32-bit, chars 8-bit, and
<code>doubles</code> are usually 64-bit. <code>bools</code> are often implemented as 8-bit data types.
<code>long long</code> type is 64-bit. The “cfloat” (or “float.h”) header file defines the ranges for the floating types, the
“climits” (or “limits.h”) - for the integer types.
</p>
<p>
Limits for numeric values are defined in the <limits> header. The templated values of <a href="limits/numeric_limits.html" class="wikilink1" title="limits:numeric_limits">numeric_limits</a> provide system-dependant numerical representations of the C++ data types. Use the appropriate function given the data type as the template argument as shown in the table below. Note that numeric_limits can be overloaded for user-defined types as well.
</p>
<table class="inline">
<tr class="row0">
<th class="col0"> Method or Constant </th><th class="col1"> Return </th><th class="col2"> Description </th>
</tr>
<tr class="row1">
<td class="col0">is_specialized</td><td class="col1">bool</td><td class="col2"> </td>
</tr>
<tr class="row2">
<td class="col0">radix</td><td class="col1">int</td><td class="col2">base of exponent</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row3">
<td class="col0">digits</td><td class="col1">int</td><td class="col2">number of radix digits in mantissa</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row4">
<td class="col0">digits10</td><td class="col1">int</td><td class="col2">number of base 10 digits in mantissa</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row5">
<td class="col0">is_signed</td><td class="col1">bool</td><td class="col2"> </td>
</tr>
<tr class="row6">
<td class="col0">is_integer</td><td class="col1">bool</td><td class="col2"> </td>
</tr>
<tr class="row7">
<td class="col0">is_exact</td><td class="col1">bool</td><td class="col2"> </td>
</tr>
<tr class="row8">
<td class="col0">min()</td><td class="col1"><type></td><td class="col2">smallest number that can be respresented (not the most negative)</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row9">
<td class="col0">max()</td><td class="col1"><type></td><td class="col2">largest number</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row10">
<td class="col0">epsilon()</td><td class="col1"><type></td><td class="col2">inherent representation error value</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row11">
<td class="col0">round_error()</td><td class="col1"><type></td><td class="col2">maximum rounding adjustment possible</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row12">
<td class="col0">infinity()</td><td class="col1"><type></td><td class="col2"> </td>
</tr>
<tr class="row13">
<td class="col0">quiet_NaN()</td><td class="col1"><type></td><td class="col2">invalid number that does not signal floating point error</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row14">
<td class="col0">signaling_NaN()</td><td class="col1"><type></td><td class="col2">invalid number that signals floating point error</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row15">
<td class="col0">denorm_min()</td><td class="col1"><type></td><td class="col2"> </td>
</tr>
<tr class="row16">
<td class="col0">min_exponent</td><td class="col1">int</td><td class="col2"> </td>
</tr>
<tr class="row17">
<td class="col0">min_exponent10</td><td class="col1">int</td><td class="col2"> </td>
</tr>
<tr class="row18">
<td class="col0">max_exponent</td><td class="col1">int</td><td class="col2"> </td>
</tr>
<tr class="row19">
<td class="col0">max_exponent10</td><td class="col1">int</td><td class="col2"> </td>
</tr>
<tr class="row20">
<td class="col0">has_infinity</td><td class="col1">bool</td><td class="col2"> </td>
</tr>
<tr class="row21">
<td class="col0">has_quiet_NaN</td><td class="col1">bool</td><td class="col2"> </td>
</tr>
<tr class="row22">
<td class="col0">has_signaling_NaN</td><td class="col1">bool</td><td class="col2"> </td>
</tr>
<tr class="row23">
<td class="col0">has_denorm</td><td class="col1"><type>_denorm_style</td><td class="col2"> </td>
</tr>
<tr class="row24">
<td class="col0">has_denorm_loss</td><td class="col1">bool</td><td class="col2"> </td>
</tr>
<tr class="row25">
<td class="col0">is_iec559</td><td class="col1">bool</td><td class="col2">conforms to IEC-559</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row26">
<td class="col0">is_bounded</td><td class="col1">bool</td><td class="col2"> </td>
</tr>
<tr class="row27">
<td class="col0">is_modulo</td><td class="col1">bool</td><td class="col2"> </td>
</tr>
<tr class="row28">
<td class="col0">traps</td><td class="col1">bool</td><td class="col2"> </td>
</tr>
<tr class="row29">
<td class="col0">tinyness_before</td><td class="col1">bool</td><td class="col2"> </td>
</tr>
<tr class="row30">
<td class="col0">round_style</td><td class="col1">float_round_style { round_to_nearest, … }</td><td class="col2"> </td>
</tr>
</table>
<p>
The most common usage is in bounds checking, to determine the minimum and maximum values a data type can hold. The following code prints out the minimum and maximum values for a short on the system it is run.
</p>
<pre class="c code c++" style="font-family:monospace;"> <span class="co2">#include <limits></span>
std<span class="sy0">::</span><a href="http://www.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/009695399/functions/cout.html"><span class="kw3">cout</span></a> <span class="sy0"><<</span> <span class="st0">"Maximum short value: "</span> <span class="sy0"><<</span> std<span class="sy0">::</span><span class="me2">numeric_limits</span><span class="sy0"><</span>short<span class="sy0">>::</span><span class="me2">max</span><span class="br0">(</span><span class="br0">)</span> <span class="sy0"><<</span> std<span class="sy0">::</span><span class="me2">endl</span><span class="sy0">;</span> std<span class="sy0">::</span><a href="http://www.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/009695399/functions/cout.html"><span class="kw3">cout</span></a> <span class="sy0"><<</span> <span class="st0">"Minimum short value: "</span> <span class="sy0"><<</span> std<span class="sy0">::</span><span class="me2">numeric_limits</span><span class="sy0"><</span>short<span class="sy0">>::</span><span class="me2">min</span><span class="br0">(</span><span class="br0">)</span> <span class="sy0"><<</span> std<span class="sy0">::</span><span class="me2">endl</span><span class="sy0">;</span></pre></div>
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<h3><a name="reading_type_declarations" id="reading_type_declarations">Reading Type Declarations</a></h3>
<div class="level3">
<p>
Simple type declarations are easy to understand:
</p>
<pre class="c code c++" style="font-family:monospace;"> <span class="kw4">int</span> i</pre>
<p>
However, it can be tricky to parse more complicated type declarations:
</p>
<pre class="c code c++" style="font-family:monospace;"> <span class="kw4">double</span> <span class="sy0">**</span>d<span class="br0">[</span><span class="nu0">8</span><span class="br0">]</span> <span class="co1">// hmm...</span>
<span class="kw4">char</span> <span class="sy0">*</span><span class="br0">(</span><span class="sy0">*</span><span class="br0">(</span><span class="sy0">**</span>foo <span class="br0">[</span><span class="br0">]</span><span class="br0">[</span><span class="nu0">8</span><span class="br0">]</span><span class="br0">)</span><span class="br0">(</span><span class="br0">)</span><span class="br0">)</span><span class="br0">[</span><span class="br0">]</span> <span class="co1">// augh! what is foo?</span></pre>
<p>
To understand the above declarations, follow three rules:
</p>
<ol>
<li class="level1"><div class="li"> Start at the variable name (<code>d</code> or <code>foo</code> in the examples above)</div>
</li>
<li class="level1"><div class="li"> End with the data type (<code>double</code> or <code>char</code> above)</div>
</li>
<li class="level1"><div class="li"> Go right when you can, and left when you must. (Grouping parentheses can cause you to bounce left.)</div>
</li>
</ol>
<p>
For example:
</p>
<table class="inline">
<tr class="row0">
<th class="col0">Expression</th><th class="col1">Meaning</th>
</tr>
<tr class="row1">
<td class="col0"> <code>double **d[8];</code> </td><td class="col1"> </td>
</tr>
<tr class="row2">
<td class="col0"> <code><del>double</del> **<del>d</del>[8];</code> </td><td class="col1"> <strong>d is … double</strong> </td>
</tr>
<tr class="row3">
<td class="col0"> <code><del>double</del> **<del>d[8]</del>;</code> </td><td class="col1"> d is <strong>an array of 8</strong> … double </td>
</tr>
<tr class="row4">
<td class="col0"> <code><del>double</del> *<del>*d[8]</del>;</code> </td><td class="col1"> d is an array of 8 <strong>pointer to</strong> … double </td>
</tr>
<tr class="row5">
<td class="col0"> <code><del>double **d[8]</del>;</code> </td><td class="col1"> d is an array of 8 pointer to <strong>pointer to</strong> double </td>
</tr>
</table>
<p>
Another example:
</p>
<table class="inline">
<tr class="row0">
<th class="col0">Expression</th><th class="col1">Meaning</th>
</tr>
<tr class="row1">
<td class="col0"> <code>char *(*(**foo [][8])())[]</code> </td><td class="col1"> </td>
</tr>
<tr class="row2">
<td class="col0"> <code><del>char</del> *(*(**<del>foo</del> [][8])())[]</code> </td><td class="col1"> <strong>foo is … char</strong> </td>
</tr>
<tr class="row3">
<td class="col0"> <code><del>char</del> *(*(**<del>foo []</del>[8])())[]</code> </td><td class="col1"> foo is <strong>an array of</strong> … char </td>
</tr>
<tr class="row4">
<td class="col0"> <code><del>char</del> *(*(**<del>foo [][8]</del>)())[]</code> </td><td class="col1"> foo is an array of <strong>an array of 8</strong> … char </td>
</tr>
<tr class="row5">
<td class="col0"> <code><del>char</del> *(*(*<del>*foo [][8]</del>)())[]</code> </td><td class="col1"> foo is an array of an array of 8 <strong>pointer to</strong> … char </td>
</tr>
<tr class="row6">
<td class="col0"> <code><del>char</del> *(*<del>(**foo [][8])</del>())[]</code> </td><td class="col1"> foo is an array of an array of 8 pointer to <strong>pointer to</strong> … char </td>
</tr>
<tr class="row7">
<td class="col0"> <code><del>char</del> *(*<del>(**foo [][8])()</del>)[]</code> </td><td class="col1"> foo is an array of an array of 8 pointer to pointer to <strong>function returning</strong> … char </td>
</tr>
<tr class="row8">
<td class="col0"> <code><del>char</del> *<del>(*(**foo [][8])())</del>[]</code> </td><td class="col1"> foo is an array of an array of 8 pointer to pointer to function returning <strong>pointer to</strong> … char </td>
</tr>
<tr class="row9">
<td class="col0"> <code><del>char</del> *<del>(*(**foo [][8])())[]</del></code> </td><td class="col1"> foo is an array of an array of 8 pointer to pointer to function returning pointer to <strong>array of</strong> … char </td>
</tr>
<tr class="row10">
<td class="col0"> <code><del>char *(*(**foo [][8])())[]</del></code> </td><td class="col1"> foo is an array of an array of 8 pointer to pointer to function returning pointer to array of <strong>pointer to</strong> char </td>
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