C MoreLesson 55Free preview

C Fixed-width Integers

This lesson is part of C · All levels

Summary

The stdint.h header provides a type of integer with a fixed width such as int8_t, uint32_t, and int64_t, so its size does not depend on the platform. This is important when data sizes need to be consistent, for example in binary files, network protocols, or bit computations. To print and read this type use special formats such as PRIu32 and PRId64 from the inttypes.h header.

Key points

IntN_t is marked and uintN_t is unmarked, with N-bits being 8, 16, 32, or 64.
Built-in types such as int do not guarantee width on all platforms, whereas stdint.h does.
Use PRIu32 or PRId64 from inttypes.h to keep the printf format portable.
Uint8_t is often used to represent bytes, colors, and binary buffers.
Beware of overflow; check the limits or use a wider type before risky surgery.

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