Literals (examples) Operators (decreasing precedence down and across)

C Reference Card 2004-06-21

123 -4 0xAf0C 057 integers (int) () [] . -> Brackets, array, struct, pointer-struct
substitutable parameters shown in italics 3.14159265 1.29e-23 reals (double) ++ -- - ! * Incr/decrement, unary minus, logical
´x´ ´\t´ ´\033´ characters (char) & ~ sizeof NOT, pointer deref., address-of, 1’s
Compilation
″hello″ ″abc\″\n″ ″″ strings (char *) (typename) complement, size in bytes, cast 
gcc –flags program.c * / % + - Binary arithmetic operators
Character and string escapes
dcc –flags program.c (CSE labs only) << >> Bitwise left shift/right shift
symbol represents symbol represents < <= > >= Relational operators
–c Compile only, output to file.o
== != & (In)equality operators; bitwise AND
–o file
Executable output to file \t tab \ddd ASCII value (octal) ^ | Bitwise exclusive OR, inclusive OR
–g Generate debugging info for gdb \n newline \´ single quote
&& || ?: Logical AND and OR; conditional 
\r carriage-return \″ double quote
–Wall Turn on all warnings = += -= *= Assignment (with optional arithmetic
\0 null character \\ backslash
/= %= etc operation) 
Declarations (examples) , Comma (sequential) operator
Lexical structure, preprocessor
int i, length; Left-associative except for  (right associative)
/* comment */ char *str, buf[BUFSIZ], prev;
double x, values[MAX]; Statements
// comment to end of line
typedef enum { FALSE, TRUE } Bool; expression ;
#include <libmodule.h>
typedef struct { { statements… }
#include ″usermodule.h″ char *key; if (expression) statement
#define NAME replacement-text int val; if (expression) statement else statement
#define NAME(args…) replacement-text } KeyValType;
switch (expression) {
type funcname(type param1, type param2 …); case constant : statements… break;
Program structure:
More types case constant : statements… break;
Header files: declarations only (#includes, #defines, function default : statements
prototypes) short (int) long (int, double) }
Implementation files: #includes, #defines, prototypes for unsigned (int, char)
while (expression) statement
local functions, function definitions Storage classes (common) for (initialiser; condition; increment) statement
Main program file: as for implementation, must have main: static local to file, or var saved across function calls do statement while (expression);
int main(int argc, char **argv) extern accessible everywhere break; terminate loop or switch
Identifiers start with a letter, followed by any number of Initialisation (examples) continue; resume next iteration of loop
letters, digits or underscores return expr; return value from function
int c = 0; goto identifier; transfer to label (rare)
Identifiers starting with _ reserved for system use
char prev = ´\n´;
Reserved words (can’t use as identifiers): char *mssg = ″hello″;
auto break case char const continue default
do double else entry enum extern float for int seq[MAX] = { 1, 2, 3 };
goto if int long register return short KeyValType keylist[] = {
signed sizeof static struct switch typedef
union unsigned void volatile while ″NSW″, 0, ″Vic″, 5 , ″Qld″, -1 };
C library functions (and other objects) ctype.h Common programming patterns
toupper(c) tolower(c) case mapping Read input a character at a time:
Parameter name implies type: c char isupper(c) islower(c) case testing
n int l long s string (char *) int c;
isalpha(c) isalnum(c) alpha(betic|numeric)
b buffer (char array) p pointer (void *) isdigit(c) isxdigit(c) decimal or hex digit while ((c = getchar()) != EOF) {
d double fh file handle (FILE *) isspace(c) isprint(c) white space, printable putchar(c); // or some other use of c
stdlib.h }
string.h
atoi(s) atof(s) string to int or double Read input a line at a time:
strlen(s) length (excluding ´\0´)
malloc(n) calloc(n) allocate n bytes strcpy(sd,ss) copy ss to sd, return sd char buf[BUFSIZ];
free(p) recycle memory strcat(sd,ss) append ss to sd, return sd
exit(n) terminate with status n while(fgets(buf,BUFSIZ,stdin) != NULL)
strcmp(s1,s2) compare, return <0 ==0 >0 process_line(buf);
abs(n) labs(l) absolute value
strncpy(sd,ss,n) strncat(sd,ss,n)
Opening a file named on the command line:
stdio.h strncmp(s1,s2,n) max n chars processed
FILE *fp;
stdin stdout stderr FILE * variables strchr(s,c) return ptr to first c in s
BUFSIZ EOF NULL constants strrchr(s,c) return ptr to last c in s fp = fopen(argv[1], ″r″);
fopen(s,mode) open file, returns fh strstr(s,sp) return ptr to first sp in s if (fp == NULL) {
mode is one or more of ″r″, ″w″, ″a″ ″b″ ″+″ strpbrk(s,set) return ptr to first of any in set fprintf(stderr, ″can’t open %s\n″,
fclose(fh) close file strspn(s,set) length of prefix of any in set argv[1]);
exit(1);
fgetc(fh) getchar() read char, EOF if none strcspn(s,set) length of prefix all not in set }
fgets(b,n,fh) read line, NULL if none
math.h (all parameters are double) Same, but file name is optional, default standard input:
fputc(c,fh) putchar(c) write char
fputs(s,fh) write line sin(d) cos(d) tan(d) trigonometry (radians) if (argc == 1)
fread(p,size,nel,fh) read into binary buffer, asin(d) acos(d) atan(d) inverse (radians) process(stdin);
return number of elements read atan2(y,x) = tan−1(y/x) else {
fwrite(p,size,nel,fh) write from binary buffer sinh(d) cosh(d) tanh(d) hyperbolic // open fp as above
Formatted output: exp(d) log(d) log10(d) exponential, logarithm process(fp);
fprintf(fh, format, list) formatted output to fh pow(x,y) sqrt(d) xy, square root }
printf(format, list) fmt output to stdout floor(d) ceil(d) integral bounds Print array of real numbers:
sprintf(b, format, list) formatted output to string fabs(d) fmod(x,y) absolute value, x % y for (i=0; i < MAX; i++)
format items %width.precision code printf(″%14.6f\n″, sample[i]);
negative width left-justifies. code is one of
Function to find the length of a string:
d decimal o octal x hexadecimal
f fixed point g general e exponential (scientific) int mystrlen(char *s)
c character s string p pointer {
int len = 0;
% literal ´%´ character char *sp;
Formatted input:
fscanf(fh, format, list) formatted input from fh for (sp=s; *sp != ´\0´; sp++)
scanf(format, list) fmt input from stdin len++;
sscanf(s, format, list) formatted input from string return len;
format codes similar to printf, list has addresses }