Int in C
The keyword int in C programming stands for integer and it is a data type which is used for variable declarations or declaration of functions of different types. Similar to every other programming language, the C programming language also comes with types which are in-built to differentiate between various data (It can be either input or output or intermediate).
Int or Integer is a data type which is quoted as usual in every programming language. By usual we mean common data type. It is quoted as usual because of its wide usage or application in scientific computing or general programming.
In mathematical terms, an Integer can be defined as a number which lacks any fractional component (No decimal terms, simply the floor values). The numbers which consist of decimal terms or consist of a fractional component are of type float and are termed as floating-point numbers. The floating-point numbers can represent numbers more accurately and it's a fact that they are more precise, but the integer type are still used and occupy a separate place because of the following reasons:
- The space occupied by Integers is significantly less as compared to the space occupied by the floating-point numbers.
- Due to the hardware architecture, the Calculations performed using integers are much faster (They are as fast as twice or over 2 times).
In the C programming language, the integer type or the data of type integer is represented using the notation int. The various types or various variants of int are stated below.
- int
- long
- short
- long long
These types are differentiated based on the memory occupied by them. Each variant of int consumes different memory and it is discussed below using a tabular representation.
Variants of integer OR Integer Types in C
In order to understand the various integer types in C, it is important to look at the storage sizes of them and their value ranges. The following table provides these details in clear and concise manner.
| Integer Type | Size (Storage size) | Range (Value range) |
| 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 | 8 bytes or (4bytes for 32 bit OS) | -9223372036854775808 to 9223372036854775807 |
| unsigned long | 8 bytes | 0 to 18446744073709551615 |
| char | 1 byte | -128 to 127 or 0 to 255 |
| unsigned char | 1 byte | 0 to 255 |
| signed char | 1 byte | -128 to 127 |
- The size of signed and unsigned versions will be the same.
- The size of int is equal to four bytes (4 bytes).
- The size of short is less than or equal to the size of int.
- The size of int is less than or equal to the size of long.
- Hence, the size of long will be less than or equal to the size of long long.
Example :
#include <stdio.h> //header files
int main()
{
int age; // local variable of type int
age = 25; // value of declared variable set to ‘25’
printf("The entered value in variable age is %d .\n", age);
return 0;
}
Program 1 : Program to find the size of Int
#include <stdio.h> //header files
int main()
{
int IntType; // local variable of type int
printf("The size of int is: %ld\n", sizeof(IntType)); //prints the size of int
return 0;
}
Program 2: Program to calculate the Sum and product of two numbers
#include<stdio.h> //header files
#include<conio.h>
void main( )
{
int num1, num2, sum, product; // local variables of type int
printf("Enter the first number: ");
scanf("%d",&num1);
printf("Enter the second number: ");
scanf("%d",&num2);
sum = num1+num2; //calculating the sum of two numbers
product = num1*num2; //calculating the product of two numbers
printf("The Sum of two numbers = %d",sum);
printf("\n The Product of two numbers = %d",product);
getch( );
}
Program 3: Program to generate the Floor value of average of two numbers
#include <stdio.h>
int main()
{
int num1, num2; //declaring the integer type variables
int average; //declaring the int type variables
printf("Enter the first number: ");
scanf("%d",&num1);
printf("Enter the second number: ");
scanf("%d",&num2);
average = (int) (num1+num2) / 2; //calculates the average of two numbers
printf("Average of %d and %d is: %d",num1,num2,average);
return 0;
}
Conclusion
The keyword int in C programming stands for integer and it is a data type which is used for variable declarations or declaration of functions of different types. Similar to every other programming language, the C programming language also comes with types which are in-built to differentiate between various data (It can be either input or output or intermediate).
In the C programming language, the integer type or the data of type integer is represented using the notation int. The various types or various variants of int are stated below.
- int
- long
- short
- long long
The type float or the floating point numbers can represent numbers more accurately and it's a fact that they are more precise, but the integer type are still used and occupy a separate place because:
- The space occupied by Integers is significantly less as compared to the space occupied by the floating-point numbers.
- Due to the hardware architecture, the calculations performed using integers are much faster (They are as fast as twice or over 2 times).