How do I print the size of int in C?

by

The sizeof function returns a size_t type. Try using %zu as the conversion specifier instead of %d.

printf("The size of integer is %zu\n", sizeof(n));

To clarify, use %zu if your compiler supports C99; otherwise, or if you want maximum portability, the best way to print a size_t value is to convert it
to unsigned long and use %lu.

printf("The size of integer is %lu\n", (unsigned long)sizeof(n));

The reason for this is that the size_t is guaranteed by the standard to be an unsigned type; however the standard does not specify that it must be of any particular size, (just large enough to represent the size of any object). In fact, if unsigned long cannot represent the largest object for your environment, you might even need to use an unsigned long long cast and %llu specifier.

In C99 the z length modifier was added to provide a way to specify that the value being printed is the size of a size_t type. By using %zu you are indicating the value being printed is an unsigned value of size_t size.

This is one of those things where it seems like you shouldn’t have to think about it, but you do.

Further reading:

More Related Contents:

  1. Is it possible to use notation [] with pointers in C?
  2. error C2143: syntax error : missing ‘;’ before ‘type’ [closed]
  3. C store digit and spaces in char array [closed]
  4. C array pointer increment
  5. Why does >= operator work as > operator in C when compared with 0.9 [duplicate]
  6. How do I trim leading/trailing whitespace in a standard way?
  7. When should I use mmap for file access?
  8. C fopen vs open
  9. What happens when I use the wrong format specifier?
  10. What is the maximum size of an array in C?
  11. How to set socket timeout in C when making multiple connections?
  12. Serialize Data Structures in C
  13. Working of fork() in linux gcc [duplicate]
  14. Why can’t I assign arrays as &a = &b?
  15. Effect of semicolon after ‘for’ loop
  16. When is it a good idea to use strdup (vs malloc / strcpy)
  17. Why the result of pow(10,2) 99 instead of 100? [duplicate]
  18. AES CTR 256 Encryption Mode of operation on OpenSSL
  19. pthread_create and passing an integer as the last argument
  20. Split string into tokens and save them in an array
  21. Detecting Endianness
  22. Why does gcc use movl instead of push to pass function args?
  23. Cuda C – Linker error – undefined reference
  24. How large should my recv buffer be when calling recv in the socket library
  25. Advantage of using extern in a header file
  26. forwarding (drawing) line in 3d grid
  27. prefetching data at L1 and L2
  28. Performance: memset
  29. Equivalent to Windows getch() for Mac/Linux crashes
  30. What is bit masking?

Leave a Comment