Chapter 3

Chapter 3
Data in C
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Powerpoint slides to be used with C Programming for Beginners by HC Ling, SN Cheong, YK Teh,
LC Kwek, Emerson, Vishnu Monn B and Badrolhisham (Pearson Education, 2010)
Objectives
Learn to declare variables in C.

Learn to understand the concept of data types
in C language.
Learn to use built-in data types in C.
Learn to write programs with formatted inputoutput statements.
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Learning Outcomes
At the end of this chapter students will be able to
write simple C programs with,
proper declaration of variables,
and the correct use of formatted input-output
statements.
Students will also be able to write programs with

user defined data types.
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3.1 Character Set

The character set in C can be grouped into the following
categories.
Letters
Letters can be either upper case A to Z or lower case a to z.
Digits
Digits are 0 to 9.
Special characters
Most of the special characters used in C are listed in Table 3.1.
White spaces
White spaces are ignored by the compiler until they are a part of
string.
Examples - blank space, horizontal tab, carriage return, new line
and form feed.
4
Table 3.1: List of special characters in C

Special character
Special character
Comma
&
Ampersand
Period
Caret
Semicolon
Asterisk
Colon
Minus sign
Question mark
Plus sign
'
Apostrophe
<
Opening angle
"
Quotation mark
>
Closing angle
Exclamation mark
Left parenthesis
Vertical bar
Right parenthesis
Slash
Left bracket
Backslash
Right bracket
Tilde
Left brace
Underscore
Right brace
Dollar sign
Number sign
Percentage sign
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3.2 Keywords and Identifiers (1/2)

Keywords
reserved words that
are used in C
language.
The following are the
keyword set of C
language.
auto
do
goto
signed
unsigned
break
double
if
sizeof
void
case
else
int
static
volatile
char
enum
long
struct
while
const
extern
register
switch
continue
float
return
typedef
default
for
short
union
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3.2 Keywords and Identifiers (2/2)
Identifiers
refer to the name given to program elements such

as variables, arrays and functions.
must conform to the following rules.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Should contain only letters, digits and underscore.

Should not exceed 31 characters in length.
Must start with a letter or underscore.
Identifier can not be a keyword of C language.
Should not have a space.
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3.3 Constants
A constant is an item whose value does not
change during the execution of a program.
constants in C
Integer constants
Real constants
Single character constants
String constants
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Integer constants
is a sequence of digits.
types:
decimal integer
consists of a set of digits 0 to 9 preceded by an optional + or
- sign.
octal integer
consists of any combination of digits from 0 through 7 with an
O at the beginning.
and hexadecimal integer.

is preceded by 0X or 0x and they may contain alphabets from
A to F or a to f.
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Examples
Decimal Integer
123
-51
0
54321
+100
Octal Integer
O12
O576
O100
Hexadecimal
integer
0X6
0x9A
0Xbcd
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Real constants
consist of a fractional part in their representation
Examples:
0.0012
-0.87
435.29
+1237.0
can also be represented by exponential notation
(scientific notation) when they are very large or
very small
12.5E09
5E10
5e-12
3.2e+6
//value is 12500000000
//value is 50000000000
//value is 0.000000000005
//value is 3200000
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Single character constants

represents a single character which is enclosed
in a pair of single quote symbols.
Examples:
m M 1
;
,
All character constants have an equivalent
integer value which is called ASCII value.
For example, ASCII value for A is 65, B is 66
and Z is 90,
and ASCII value for a is 97, b is 98 and z is
122
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String constants
is a set of characters enclosed in double
quotation marks.
may be consisting of alphabets, numbers,
special characters and blank spaces.
Examples:
"MMU"
"1234"
"God Bless"
"!.....?"
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3.4 Variables
is an identifier whose value can change at any
time.
is a memory location used to store a data value.
A variable name should be carefully chosen by
the programmer so that its use is reflected in a
useful way in the entire program.
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Examples for variables

Valid variable names
data
student_reg_num
basic_salary
basicsalary
emp_name
average1
Invalid variable names

1stName
user name
float
emp-name
//rule 1 violated
//rule 3 violated
//rule 4 violated
//rule 5 violated
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3.5 Built-in Data Types in C

fundamental data types which all C compilers
accept
int Integer data type

float - Floating point data type
double - Double precision floating point data type
char Character data type
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Integer data type

represents whole numbers with a machinedependent range of values.
denoted by the keyword int.
C has 3 classes of integer storage, namely
short int, int and long int.
unsigned numbers are always positive and
consume all the bits for the magnitude of the
number.
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Floating point data type

represents real numbers (with decimal point).
is denoted by the keyword float.
Double precision floating point data type is the
same as float but with longer precision. They
are denoted by the keyword double.
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Character data type

represents any single character acceptable to C
compilers.
is denoted by the keyword char.
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Table 3.2: Size and range of data types on a 16-bit machine

Data type
Size (bytes)
Range
char
128 to 127
int
-2147483648 to 2147483647
unsigned int
0 to 4294967295
short int
-32768 to 32767
unsigned short int
0 to 65535
long int
-2147483648 to 2147483647
unsigned long int
0 to 4294967295
float
3.4 e38 to 3.4 e+38
double
1.7e308 to 1.7e+308
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3.6 Declaration of Variables in C

Every variable used in the program should be
declared to the compiler before its first usage.
This helps the compiler to reserve enough
storage in the main memory for the variables
declared.
Syntax: data_type v1, v2, v3,..., vn;
where data_type represents any one of the builtin data types explained in Section 3.5 and v1,
v2, v3, , vn are variable names.
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Declaration examples
int strength, age, tvs_sold;
declares variables strength, age, and tvs_sold as integer.
float mark, temperature;

declares variables mark and temperature as float.
double
moon_distance, virus_size;
declares variables moon_distance and virus_size as double.
char
gender, result;
declares variables gender and result as character.

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3.7 User-defined Data Type

user can define an identifier that represents an
existing data type and the identifier can later be
used to declare variables.
Syntax: typedef data_type identifier;
where typedef is a keyword, data_type
represents any built-in data type and identifier
refers to the new name given to the data type.
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3.7 User-defined Data Type: Examples

typedef int meter;
meter length, height;
// meaningful declaration
declares meter to be integer and allows meter to
be used as a user-defined data type later in the
program.
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Enumerated data type

A kind of user-defined data type
Syntax: enum identifier {value1, value2,
value3,..., value-n};
where enum is a keyword, and identifier is a

user-defined enumerated data type which can
be used to declare variables that have one of
the values enclosed within the braces.
After the definition, we can declare variables and
initialise variables to one of the values enclosed
within the braces above.
enum identifier V1, V2, V3,..., Vn
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Enumerated data type: Example

enum gender {male, female};
enum gender person;
person = male;
First C statement declared an enumerated data type
gender with possible values male and female.
The second one declares a variable person of gender
type.
Now the variable gender can have either male or female
as its values.
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3.8 Formatted I/O

refers to getting data from the user or printing results on
the screen according to user requirements.
Input values are generally taken by using the scanf
function.
Syntax: scanf(control string, arg1, arg2,
arg3, , argn);
The control string specifies the format in which the
values are to be inputted for the variables specified by
the arguments arg1, arg2, , argn.
C expects the address (actual main memory location) of
the variables to be specified in place of arguments.
In order to find the address of the arguments, the
address operator & will be used just before the
arguments
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Integer format
The general format for reading an integer number is %xd
Example 1 :
scanf (%d %d, &age, &strength);
If the values input are 20 and 160, value 20 is assigned
to age and 160 to strength.
Example 2:
scanf (%2d, &age);
Here, 2 specifies the width of the field, 2 digits only.
Suppose the input data was 101, the number 10 will be
assigned to age instead of 101.
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Float format
The general format for reading a float number is
%f
Example:
scanf (%f %f , &mark, &temperature);
With input data 84.3 and -5.3, the value 84.3 is

assigned to mark, and -5.3 to temperature.
If the number input is a double data type, then
the conversion specifier should be %lf instead of
%f.
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Character format
The general format for reading a character is %c
Example:
scanf (%c, &gender);
Suppose that the input given is m, then m is
assigned to gender.
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Formatted output for printf

The printf function has the following general forms,
printf(message);
printf(control string, arg1, arg2,...,
argn);
address operator & need not be used just before the
arguments.
Formats used to output integer, float and character
values are %d, %f and %c respectively.
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Advanced formatted output for printf

printf(%[flag][field_width][.precision]
conversion_specifier, arguments list);
where conversion_specifier defines what is to be

printed (e.g. whether it is an integer, floating point
or character).
The other optional fields, namely flag, field_width
and precision, are used to control how data is to
be printed.
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Table 3.3: Additional conversion specifiers

Conversion specifier
Description
Displays an unsigned octal integer.
Displays an unsigned decimal integer.
x or X
h or l (lower case of L)
e or E
Displays an unsigned hexadecimal integer. X causes the digits 0-9 and the letters A-F to be
displayed and x causes the digits 0-9 and a-f to be displayed.
Places before any integer conversion specifier to indicate that a short or long integer is displayed
respectively. Letters h and l are more precisely called length modifiers.
Displays a floating point number in exponential notation (computer's version of scientific notation).
Example: 250.3 2.503 x 10 in scientific form and 2.503E+02 in exponential form. The E (or e)
stands for exponent.
Requires a string (char*) argument.

The characters in the string are printed until a NULL (\0) is encountered.
Displays the value of pointer (address).
Prints a percent sign
g or G
Displays a shorter version of floating point number by:

Exponent < -4 or Exponent >= 6: Exponential notation is used (same as %e or %E)
Exponent >= -4 or Exponent < 6: Similar to %f, but with no trailing zeros
Example: With %g notation,
8750000.0 8.75e+06
0.0000875 8.75e-05
8.7500000 8.75
0.8750000 0.875
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Printing with field width

Field width is the size of the field which data is printed.
If field width is larger than data, right justified is used by
default.
If field width is smaller than data, field width is increased
to fit the data.
Minus or plus sign, E or e in exponential form, decimal
point (in floating point number) will occupy one character
space in the field.
1.25 occupy 4 spaces in the field width
1.75E+05 occupy 8 spaces in the field width
-5000 occupy 5 spaces in the field width
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Printing with precision

The meaning of precision varies depending on data type.
In case of integers, it means minimum number of digits
to be printed and if data is too small, zeros are prefixed.
In the case of floating point numbers, for e and f, it
means the number of digits to appear after decimal point
whereas for g, it means the maximum number of
significant digits.
In the case of string, it means the maximum number of
characters to be written from the string.
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Effects of flag while printing

The flag field is used to align the data left or right
in the given field width.
With no flag (default), it will force right align
within the given field width, and only minus sign
of negative numbers are printed.
Left alignment would be effective when the flag
of is used.
The use of the flag + forces to precede the result
with a sign (+ or -) if the data to be printed are
integers or floating point numbers.
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Table 3.4: Some examples for field width and precision.

Formatted printf()
Output
printf( "(%2d)", i );
(123)
printf( "(%5d)", i );
( 123)
printf( "%.4d", i );
0123
printf( "%.7d", i );
0000123
printf( "%.3f", f );
123.457
printf( "%.3e", f );
1.235e+002
printf( "%.3g", f );
123
printf( "(%.11s)" , s);
(Multimedia )
printf( "(%5.4d)", i );
( 0123)
printf( "(%8.3f)", f );
( 123.457)
printf( "(%7.5s)", s );
( Multi)
printf( "(%5d), i);
( 123)
printf( "(%-5d)", i);
(123 )
printf( "(%+5.4d)", i);
(+0123)
printf( "(%+8.3f)", f);
(+123.457)
int i = 123;
double f = 123.45678;
char s[] = "Multimedia
University";
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Printing with escape sequence

Escape sequences are typically used to specify
actions such as carriage returns and tab
movements on terminals and printers
Character combinations consisting of a
backslash (\) followed by a letter or by a
combination of digits
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Table 3.5: Escape sequences and their purposes

Escape sequence
Action
\'
Output the single quote (') character.
\"
Output the double quote (") character.
\?
Output the question mark (?) character.
\\
Output the backslash (\) character.
\a
Cause an audible (bell) or visual alert.
\b
Move the cursor back one position on the current line.
\f
Move the cursor to the start of the next logical page.
\n
Move the cursor to the beginning of the next line.
\r
Move the cursor to the beginning of the current line.
\t
Move the cursor to the next horizontal tab position.
\v
Move the cursor to the next vertical tab position.
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Programming exercise
Write a C program to find area of rectangle whose sides are given
by the user.
Solution
The inputs to the problem are the sides of a rectangle, i.e. the length
and the breadth. We have to get the values of length and breadth
from the user using scanf statement. These inputs are of data type
float since sides of a rectangle is normally with fraction (floating
point format).
The expected output is the area of the rectangle which is also of
data type float. The area could be calculated by using the following
formula,
area = length * breadth.
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By following top-down design technique, the three major parts of

the algorithm are given below,
Initialisation phase
No variable need to be initialised (as the values of length and
breadth will be given by the user at run time).
Processing phase
Read the values of length and breadth from the user and store
them into variables length and breadth respectively. Calculate
the area of the rectangle as length * breadth and store the result
into the variable area.
Termination phase
Display the calculated value of the variable area with
appropriate message.
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The Program
//header file required for the scanf and printf functions
#include <stdio.h>
int main( )
{
//declaration part
float length, breadth;
float area;
//reading the input and storing them into variables length
//and breadth
printf("Enter the two sides of a rectangle: ");
scanf ("%f %f", &length, &breadth);
//calculating the area as length x breadth
area = length * breadth;
//displaying the output with suitable message
printf("The area of the rectangle = %f square meters\n", area);
return 0;
}
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Sample output
Enter the two sides of a rectangle: 2.3 3.2
The area of the rectangle = 7.360000 square meters
Note: The trailing zeros after the decimal point could be

eliminated by formatting the output using precision (%.2f
instead of %f) as follows,
printf("The area of the rectangle = %.2f square
meters\n",area);
The output of this printf statement will be,

The area of the rectangle = 7.36 square meters
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Common errors
Use of variables without having declared

earlier in the program will result in compiler
error undeclared identifier.
The address operator & is needed for scanf
function and it is not needed for printf function.
Improper use of control string will result in
incorrect output.
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3.9 Summary
1. For each variable, you have to attach some data type.
The data type defines the amount of storage allocated
to variables and the values that they can accept.
2. There are two types of data, built-in and user-defined.
3. Every variable has to be declared before it is used.
4. Values to declared variables can be input from outside
the program using scanf function. The results of the
program can be output by using printf function.
5. The input to the program and the output from the
program can be formatted according to the user
requirements using features like conversion specifier,
flag, field width and precision.
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Chapter 3

Learn to declare variables in C.

Students will also be able to write programs with

3.1 Character Set

Table 3.1: List of special characters in C

3.2 Keywords and Identifiers (1/2)

3.2 Keywords and Identifiers (2/2)

refer to the name given to program elements such

Should contain only letters, digits and underscore.

and hexadecimal integer.

Single character constants

Examples for variables

Invalid variable names

3.5 Built-in Data Types in C

int Integer data type

Integer data type

Floating point data type

Character data type

Table 3.2: Size and range of data types on a 16-bit machine

unsigned short int

unsigned long int

3.4 e38 to 3.4 e+38

3.6 Declaration of Variables in C

float mark, temperature;

declares variables moon_distance and virus_size as double.

declares variables gender and result as character.

3.7 User-defined Data Type

3.7 User-defined Data Type: Examples

Enumerated data type

where enum is a keyword, and identifier is a

Enumerated data type: Example

3.8 Formatted I/O

With input data 84.3 and -5.3, the value 84.3 is

Formatted output for printf

Advanced formatted output for printf

where conversion_specifier defines what is to be

Table 3.3: Additional conversion specifiers

Displays an unsigned octal integer.

Displays an unsigned decimal integer.

Requires a string (char*) argument.

Displays the value of pointer (address).

Prints a percent sign

Displays a shorter version of floating point number by:

Printing with field width

Printing with precision

Effects of flag while printing

Table 3.4: Some examples for field width and precision.

printf( "(%.11s)" , s);

printf( "(%5d), i);

printf( "(%-5d)", i);

printf( "(%+5.4d)", i);

printf( "(%+8.3f)", f);

Printing with escape sequence

Table 3.5: Escape sequences and their purposes

Output the single quote (') character.

Output the double quote (") character.

Output the question mark (?) character.

Output the backslash (\) character.

Cause an audible (bell) or visual alert.

Move the cursor back one position on the current line.

Move the cursor to the start of the next logical page.

Move the cursor to the beginning of the next line.

Move the cursor to the beginning of the current line.