Data Type Range

[Khaltazar]

I have seen that unsigned int ranges from 0 to 4,294,967,295. I cannot print this to the user without a warning though. I'm just trying to understand the limits of variables, so this is just for my reference.

Here is the code:

#include <stdio.h>

int main(){
    unsigned int a = 4294967295;
    // 4 Bytes [Signed: -2147483648 to 2137483647, Unsigned: 0 to 4294967295]
    printf("%u", a);
    return 0;
}

Basically, I want the warning to go away. I read about using limit.h, but that is not what I'm trying to do. I just want to know the maximum value that data types will hold.

Warning I get:

warning: this decimal constant is unsigned only in ISO C90 [enabled by default]

Thanks for your time.

[ZuK]

4294967295; doesn't fit into the range of an int -> warning
try

 unsigned int a = 4294967295u;

Kurt

[Khaltazar]

4294967295; doesn't fit into the range of an int -> warning
try

 unsigned int a = 4294967295u;

Kurt

Thank you ZuK. That did work. I have another question in case you or someone else comes here. Would the following sample code be valid?

int a = -2147483648u;
printf("int [Minimum]: %d", a);

It does print it to the screen correctly, but is that the best way to do that?

[Malcolm McLean]

Thank you ZuK. That did work. I have another question in case you or someone else comes here. Would the following sample code be valid?

int a = -2147483648u;
printf("int [Minimum]: %d", a);

It does print it to the screen correctly, but is that the best way to do that?

You don't need the u. The value will fit into a signed int (just).

But normally it's better to use the defines in limits.h, or use hexadecimal. Most people don't know the decimal values off pat, and it's hard to see what you are doing.

Another question is, do you really want the biggest 32 bit value, or the biggest value the computer will hold in an int? Whilst these are usually the same, the way you use the values is likely to be different.

[Barney McGrew]

I have seen that unsigned int ranges from 0 to 4,294,967,295.

It may have that range, but it's guaranteed to have a much smaller one.

[iMalc]

int a = -2147483648u;
printf("int [Minimum]: %d", a);

It looks like you tried that because nobody actually said that what the U suffix does is it makes the constant unsigned, irrespective of that value being assigned to the variable.

As it makes no sense to have a negative unsigned value, simply do not do that.