The "minimum-magnitude value" column is the minimum possible magnitude for this constant as specified by the standard. In particular, _MIN
values represent the minimum magnitude representable in the rarely-used one's complement and sign-magnitude forms. Most implementations will have larger magnitudes for at least some of these numbers. For instance:
Name |
Description |
Typical value on a PC circa 2007 |
ANSI standard minimum-magnitude value |
CHAR_BIT |
Number of bits in a byte |
8 |
8 |
SCHAR_MIN |
Minimum value for a signed char |
-128 |
-127 |
SCHAR_MAX |
Maximum value for a signed char |
+127 |
+127 |
UCHAR_MAX |
Maximum value for an unsigned char |
+255 |
+255 |
CHAR_MIN |
Minimum value for a char |
-128 |
-127 (if char is represented as a signed char ; otherwise 0) |
CHAR_MAX |
Maximum value for a char |
+127 |
+127 (if char is represented as a signed char ; otherwise +255) |
MB_LEN_MAX |
Maximum multi byte length of a character across all locales |
varies, usually at least 4 |
1 |
SHRT_MIN |
Minimum value for a short int |
-32,768 |
-32,767 |
SHRT_MAX |
Maximum value for a short int |
+32,767 |
+32,767 |
USHRT_MAX |
Maximum value for an unsigned short int |
+65,535 |
+65,535 |
INT_MIN |
Minimum value for an int |
-2,147,483,648 |
-32,767 |
INT_MAX |
Maximum value for an int |
+2,147,483,647 |
+32,767 |
UINT_MAX |
Maximum value for an unsigned int |
+4,294,967,295 |
+65,535 |
LONG_MIN |
Minimum value for a long int |
-2,147,483,648 |
-2,147,483,647 |
LONG_MAX |
Maximum value for a long int |
+2,147,483,647 |
+2,147,483,647 |
ULONG_MAX |
Maximum value for an unsigned long int |
+4,294,967,295 |
+4,294,967,295 |
LLONG_MIN |
Minimum value for a long long int |
-9,223,372,036,854,775,808 |
-9,223,372,036,854,775,807 |
LLONG_MAX |
Maximum value for a long long int |
+9,223,372,036,854,775,807 |
+9,223,372,036,854,775,807 |
ULLONG_MAX |
Maximum value for an unsigned long long int |
+18,446,744,073,709,551,615 |
+18,446,744,073,709,551,615 |