Literals in C

The literals are constant values that appear directly in your source code. They represent fixed values and data, such as integers, floating-point numbers, characters, and strings. Literals are used to initialize variables, specify constant values in expressions, and provide input or output data in your C program. Here are some common types of literals in C:

1. Integer Literals:

• Integer literals represent whole numbers.
• Examples: 42, -123, 0, 255.

1. Floating-Point Literals:

• Floating-point literals represent real numbers with decimal points.
• Examples: 3.14159, -0.01, 1.0.

1. Character Literals:

• Character literals represent individual characters enclosed in single quotes.
• Examples: 'A', '7', '%'.

1. String Literals:

• String literals represent sequences of characters enclosed in double quotes.
• Example: "Hello, World!".

1. Boolean Literals:

• C does not have native boolean literals like some other languages. Instead, integers are often used to represent boolean values:
  • 0 typically represents “false.”
  • Non-zero values (often 1) represent “true.”

1. Escape Sequences in String and Character Literals:

• You can use escape sequences within string and character literals to represent special characters. For example:
  • "\n" represents a newline character.
  • "\t" represents a tab character.
  • "\"" represents a double quote within a string.
  • '\'' represents a single quote within a character literal.

1. Octal and Hexadecimal Notation:

• Integer literals can be written in octal notation by prefixing them with 0, such as 075.
• Integer literals can also be written in hexadecimal notation by prefixing them with 0x or 0X, such as 0x1A.

1. Suffixes for Integer and Floating-Point Literals:

• You can use suffixes to specify the data type of integer and floating-point literals. For example:
  • 42L represents a long integer.
  • 3.14f represents a float.
  • 2.5e3 represents a double in scientific notation.

Here are some examples of literals in C code:

int num = 42; // Integer literal
float pi = 3.14159; // Floating-point literal
char letter = 'A'; // Character literal
char name[] = "John"; // String literal
int isTrue = 1; // Boolean-like (1 represents true)

In C, literals play a crucial role in initializing variables, specifying constants, and providing data in your program. They are used extensively in C code to represent various types of data values.