Department of Computer and Information Science,

School of Science, IUPUI

A First C Program
(mixing datatypes)
Dale Roberts, Lecturer
Computer Science, IUPUI
E-mail: droberts@cs.iupui.edu

Dale Roberts

Data Type Conversion

Rule #1
char, short
float

int
double

Rule #2 (double long unsigned int)

If either operand is double, the other is converted to
double, and the result is double
Otherwise, if either operand is long, the other is
converted to long, and the result is long
Otherwise, if either operand is unsigned, the other is
converted to unsigned, and the result is unsigned
Otherwise, the operand must be int
Dale Roberts

Examples
Example: c: char, u: unsigned, i: int, d: double, f:float,
s: short, l: long,
Expression

Final Data Type

c s / i

int
unsigned

u * 3 i

Explanation

shortint, int/int, charint, int-int

int(3)unsigned,
unsigned*unsigned=unsigned,
intunsigned, unsigned-unsigned=unsigned

u * 3.0 i

double

unsigneddouble, double*double,
intdouble, double-double=double

c + i

int
double
long

char int

c + 1.0
3 * s * l

char int (rule 1), intdouble(rule 2)

shortint, int*int, intlong, long*long

Dale Roberts

Data Type Conversion (cont.)

Note:
1.
2.

Conversion of int to long preserves sign, so does short

Var = expr
f = d; /* round off */
i = f;
/* truncates fractions part, if the number is too big to fit, the result is
undetermined */

i = l; s = i; and c = i; /* may eliminate high order

bits */

Dale Roberts

3.

If a specific type is required, the following syntax may be used,

called cast operator.

(type) expr
Example:
float f=2.5;
x = (int)f + 1;
/* the result is 3, Q: will f value be changed? */
4.

Unsigned int to int:

there is not actual conversion between int and unsigned int.
Example:(Assuming 2s complement machine and int is 2 bytes long)
unsigned i = 65535; int j;
j = i;
/* j will be 1 */
j = -2;
unsigned i = 1 + j;
/* i= 65535 */
Dale Roberts