6.2.5 Types

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469 The meaning of a value stored in an object or returned by a function is determined by the type of the expression used to access it.

470 (An identifier declared to be an object is the simplest such expression;

471 the type is specified in the declaration of the identifier.)

472 Types are partitioned into object types (types that fully describe objects), function types (types that describe functions), and incomplete types (types that describe objects but lack information needed to determine their sizes).

473 An object declared as type _Bool is large enough to store the values 0 and 1.

474 An object declared as type char is large enough to store any member of the basic execution character set.

475 If a member of the basic execution character set is stored in a char its value is guaranteed to be positivenonnegative.

476 If any other character is stored in a char object, the resulting value is implementation-defined but shall be within the range of values that can be represented in that type.

477 There are five standard signed integer types, designated as signed char, short int, int, long int, and long long int.

478 (These and other types may be designated in several additional ways, as described in 6.7.2.)

479 There may also be implementation-defined extended signed integer types.²⁸⁾

480 The standard and extended signed integer types are collectively called signed integer types.²⁹⁾

481 An object declared as type signed char occupies the same amount of storage as a “plain” char object.

482 A “plain” int object has the natural size suggested by the architecture of the execution environment (large enough to contain any value in the range INT_MIN to INT_MAX as defined in the header <limits.h>).

483 For each of the signed integer types, there is a corresponding (but different) unsigned integer type (designated with the keyword unsigned) that uses the same amount of storage (including sign information) and has the same alignment requirements.

484 The type _Bool and the unsigned integer types that correspond to the standard signed integer types are the standard unsigned integer types.

485 The unsigned integer types that correspond to the extended signed integer types are the extended unsigned integer types.

486 The standard and extended unsigned integer types are collectively called unsigned integer types.³⁰⁾

487 28) Implementation-defined keywords shall have the form of an identifier reserved for any use as described in 7.1.3.

488 29) Therefore, any statement in this Standard about signed integer types also applies to the extended signed integer types.

489 30) Therefore, any statement in this Standard about unsigned integer types also applies to the extended unsigned integer types.

490 The standard signed integer types and standard unsigned integer types are collectively called the standard integer types, the extended signed integer types and extended unsigned integer types are collectively called the extended integer types.

491 For any two integer types with the same signedness and different integer conversion rank (see 6.3.1.1), the range of values of the type with smaller integer conversion rank is a subrange of the values of the other type.

492 The range of nonnegative values of a signed integer type is a subrange of the corresponding unsigned integer type, and the representation of the same value in each type is the same.³¹⁾

493 A computation involving unsigned operands can never overflow, because a result that cannot be represented by the resulting unsigned integer type is reduced modulo the number that is one greater than the largest value that can be represented by the resulting type.

494 There are three real floating types, designated as float, double, and long double.³²⁾

495 The set of values of the type float is a subset of the set of values of the type double;

496 the set of values of the type double is a subset of the set of values of the type long double.

497 There are three complex types, designated as float _Complex, double _Complex, and long double _Complex.³³⁾

498 The real floating and complex types are collectively called the floating types.

499 For each floating type there is a corresponding real type, which is always a real floating type.

500 For real floating types, it is the same type.

501 For complex types, it is the type given by deleting the keyword _Complex from the type name.

502 Each complex type has the same representation and alignment requirements as an array type containing exactly two elements of the corresponding real type;

503 the first element is equal to the real part, and the second element to the imaginary part, of the complex number.

504 The type char, the signed and unsigned integer types, and the floating types are collectively called the basic types.

505 Even if the implementation defines two or more basic types to have the same representation, they are nevertheless different types.³⁴⁾

506 31) The same representation and alignment requirements are meant to imply interchangeability as arguments to functions, return values from functions, and members of unions.

507 32) See “future language directions” (6.11.1).

508 33) A specification for imaginary types is in informative annex G.

509 34) An implementation may define new keywords that provide alternative ways to designate a basic (or any other) type;

510 this does not violate the requirement that all basic types be different.

511 Implementation-defined keywords shall have the form of an identifier reserved for any use as described in 7.1.3.

512 The three types char, signed char, and unsigned char are collectively called the character types.

513 The implementation shall define char to have the same range, representation, and behavior as either signed char or unsigned char.³⁵⁾

514 An enumeration comprises a set of named integer constant values.

515 Each distinct enumeration constitutes a different enumerated type.

516 The type char, the signed and unsigned integer types, and the enumerated types are collectively called integer types.

517 The integer and real floating types are collectively called real types.

518 Integer and floating types are collectively called arithmetic types.

519 Each arithmetic type belongs to one type domain: the real type domain comprises the real types, the complex type domain comprises the complex types.

520 The void type comprises an empty set of values;

521 it is an incomplete type that cannot be completed.

522 Any number of derived types can be constructed from the object, function, and incomplete types, as follows:

523 — An array type describes a contiguously allocated nonempty set of objects with a particular member object type, called the element type.³⁶⁾

524 Array types are characterized by their element type and by the number of elements in the array.

525 An array type is said to be derived from its element type, and if its element type is T, the array type is sometimes called “array of T”.

526 The construction of an array type from an element type is called “array type derivation”.

527 — A structure type describes a sequentially allocated nonempty set of member objects (and, in certain circumstances, an incomplete array), each of which has an optionally specified name and possibly distinct type.

528 — A union type describes an overlapping nonempty set of member objects, each of which has an optionally specified name and possibly distinct type.

529 — A function type describes a function with specified return type.

530 A function type is characterized by its return type and the number and types of its parameters.

531 A function type is said to be derived from its return type, and if its return type is T, the function type is sometimes called “function returning T”.

532 The construction of a function type from a return type is called “function type derivation”.

533 35) CHAR_MIN, defined in <limits.h>, will have one of the values 0 or SCHAR_MIN, and this can be used to distinguish the two options.

534 Irrespective of the choice made, char is a separate type from the other two and is not compatible with either.

535 36) Since object types do not include incomplete types, an array of incomplete type cannot be constructed.

536 — A pointer type may be derived from a function type, an object type, or an incomplete type, called the referenced type.

537 A pointer type describes an object whose value provides a reference to an entity of the referenced type.

538 A pointer type derived from the referenced type T is sometimes called “pointer to T”.

539 The construction of a pointer type from a referenced type is called “pointer type derivation”.

540 These methods of constructing derived types can be applied recursively.

541 Arithmetic types and pointer types are collectively called scalar types.

542 Array and structure types are collectively called aggregate types.³⁷⁾

543 An array type of unknown size is an incomplete type.

544 It is completed, for an identifier of that type, by specifying the size in a later declaration (with internal or external linkage).

545 A structure or union type of unknown content (as described in 6.7.2.3) is an incomplete type.

546 It is completed, for all declarations of that type, by declaring the same structure or union tag with its defining content later in the same scope.

547 Array, function, and pointer types are collectively called derived declarator types.

548 A declarator type derivation from a type T is the construction of a derived declarator type from T by the application of an array-type, a function-type, or a pointer-type derivation to T.

549 A type is characterized by its type category, which is either the outermost derivation of a derived type (as noted above in the construction of derived types), or the type itself if the type consists of no derived types.

550 Any type so far mentioned is an unqualified type.

551 Each unqualified type has several qualified versions of its type,³⁸⁾ corresponding to the combinations of one, two, or all three of the const, volatile, and restrict qualifiers.

552 The qualified or unqualified versions of a type are distinct types that belong to the same type category and have the same representation and alignment requirements.³⁹⁾

553 A derived type is not qualified by the qualifiers (if any) of the type from which it is derived.

554 A pointer to void shall have the same representation and alignment requirements as a pointer to a character type.³⁹⁾

555 Similarly, pointers to qualified or unqualified versions of compatible types shall have the same representation and alignment requirements.

556 All pointers to structure types shall have the same representation and alignment requirements as each other.

557 All pointers to union types shall have the same representation and alignment requirements as each other.

558 Pointers to other types need not have the same representation or alignment requirements.

559 37) Note that aggregate type does not include union type because an object with union type can only contain one member at a time.

560 38) See 6.7.3 regarding qualified array and function types.

561 39) The same representation and alignment requirements are meant to imply interchangeability as arguments to functions, return values from functions, and members of unions.

562 EXAMPLE 1 The type designated as “float *” has type “pointer to float”. Its type category is pointer, not a floating type. The const-qualified version of this type is designated as “float * const” whereas the type designated as “const float *” is not a qualified type— its type is “pointer to const-qualified float” and is a pointer to a qualified type.

563 EXAMPLE 2 The type designated as “struct tag (*[5])(float)” has type “array of pointer to function returning struct tag”. The array has length five and the function has a single parameter of type float. Its type category is array.

564 Forward references: compatible type and composite type (6.2.7), declarations (6.7).