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CProgrammingVariablesandConstants

CProgrammingVariablesandConstants
In this tutorial, you will learn about variables, rules for naming a variable, constants
and different type of constants in C programming.

Variables
Inprogramming,avariableisacontainer(storagearea)toholddata.
Toindicatethestoragearea,eachvariableshouldbegivenauniquename(identifier).
Variablenamesarejustthesymbolicrepresentationofamemorylocation.Forexample:
intplayerScore=95;

Here,playerScoreisavariableofintegertype.Thevariableisholding95intheabovecode.
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CProgrammingVariablesandConstants

Thevalueofavariablecanbechanged,hencethename'variable'.
InCprogramming,youhavetodeclareavariablebeforeyoucanuseit.

RulesforwritingvariablenameinC
1.Avariablenamecanhaveletters(bothuppercaseandlowercaseletters),digitsand
underscoreonly.
2.Thefirstletterofavariableshouldbeeitheraletteroranunderscore.However,itis
discouragedtostartvariablenamewithanunderscore.Itisbecausevariablenamethat
startswithanunderscorecanconflictwithsystemnameandmaycauseerror.
3.Thereisnoruleonhowlongavariablecanbe.However,thefirst31charactersofa
variablearediscriminatedbythecompiler.So,thefirst31lettersoftwovariablesina
programshouldbedifferent.
Cisastronglytypedlanguage.Whatthismeansitthat,thetypeofavariablecannotbe
changed.Suppose,youdeclaredanintegertypevariable.Youcannotstorecharacterora
decimalnumberinthatvariable.Visitthispagetolearnmoreaboutdifferenttypesofdataa
variablecanstore.

Constants/Literals
Aconstantisavalueoranidentifierwhosevaluecannotbealteredinaprogram.For
example:1,2.5,"Cprogrammingiseasy"etc.
Asmentioned,anidentifieralsocanbedefinedasaconstant.
constdoublePI=3.14

Here,PIisaconstant.Basicallywhatitmeansisthat,PIand3.14issameforthisprogram.

Integerconstants
Aintegerconstantisanumericconstant(associatedwithnumber)withoutanyfractionalor
exponentialpart.TherearethreetypesofintegerconstantsinCprogramming:
decimalconstant(base10)
octalconstant(base8)
hexadecimalconstant(base16)

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Forexample:
Decimalconstants:0,9,22etc
Octalconstants:021,077,033etc
Hexadecimalconstants:0x7f,0x2a,0x521etc

InCprogramming,octalconstantstartswitha0andhexadecimalconstantstartswitha0x.

Floatingpointconstants
Afloatingpointconstantisanumericconstantthathaseitherafractionalformoran
exponentform.Forexample:
2.0
0.0000234
0.22E5

Note:E5=10 5

Characterconstants
Acharacterconstantisaconstantwhichusessinglequotationaroundcharacters.For
example:'a','l','m','F'

EscapeSequences
Sometimes,itisnecessarytousecharacterswhichcannotbetypedorhasspecialmeaning
inCprogramming.Forexample:newline(enter),tab,questionmarketc.Inordertouse
thesecharacters,escapesequenceisused.
Forexample:\nisusedfornewline.Thebackslash(\)causes"escape"fromthenormal
waythecharactersareinterpretedbythecompiler.

EscapeSequences

EscapeSequences

Character

\b

Backspace

\f

Formfeed

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CProgrammingVariablesandConstants

\n

Newline

\r

Return

\t

Horizontaltab

\v

Verticaltab

\\

Backslash

\'

Singlequotationmark

\"

Doublequotationmark

\?

Questionmark

\0

Nullcharacter

Stringconstants
Stringconstantsaretheconstantswhichareenclosedinapairofdoublequotemarks.For
example:
"good"//stringconstant
""//nullstringconstant
""//stringconstantofsixwhitespace
"x"//stringconstanthavingsinglecharacter.
"Earthisround\n"//printsstringwithnewline

Enumerationconstants
Keywordenumisusedtodefineenumerationtypes.Forexample:
enumcolor{yellow,green,black,white};

Here,colorisavariableandyellow,green,blackandwhitearetheenumerationconstants
havingvalue0,1,2and3respectively.Formoreinformation,visitpage:CEnumeration.

Checkouttheseexamplestolearnmore:
CProgramtoPrintanIntegerEnteredbytheUser
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CProgrammingVariablesandConstants

CProgramtoAddTwoIntegers
CProgramtoMultiplytwoFloatingPointNumbers

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