C Integer Limits

Microsoft Specific

The limits for integer types are listed in the following table. These limits are defined in the standard header file LIMITS.H. Microsoft C also permits the declaration of sized integer variables, which are integral types of size 8-, 16-, or 32-bits. For more information on sized integers, see Sized Integer Types.

Limits on Integer Constants

Constant

Meaning

Value

CHAR_BIT

Number of bits in the smallest variable that is not a bit field.

8

SCHAR_MIN

Minimum value for a variable of type signed char.

–128

SCHAR_MAX

Maximum value for a variable of type signed char.

127

UCHAR_MAX

Maximum value for a variable of type unsigned char.

255 (0xff)

CHAR_MIN

Minimum value for a variable of type char.

–128; 0 if /J option used

CHAR_MAX

Maximum value for a variable of type char.

127; 255 if /J option used

MB_LEN_MAX

Maximum number of bytes in a multicharacter constant.

5

SHRT_MIN

Minimum value for a variable of type short.

–32768

SHRT_MAX

Maximum value for a variable of type short.

32767

USHRT_MAX

Maximum value for a variable of type unsigned short.

65535 (0xffff)

INT_MIN

Minimum value for a variable of type int.

–2147483647 – 1

INT_MAX

Maximum value for a variable of type int.

2147483647

UINT_MAX

Maximum value for a variable of type unsigned int.

4294967295 (0xffffffff)

LONG_MIN

Minimum value for a variable of type long.

–2147483647 – 1

LONG_MAX

Maximum value for a variable of type long.

2147483647

ULONG_MAX

Maximum value for a variable of type unsigned long.

4294967295 (0xffffffff)

If a value exceeds the largest integer representation, the Microsoft compiler generates an error.

END Microsoft Specific

See Also

Concepts

C Integer Constants