Rules for constructing Constants in C Language

 There are rules to be followed in order to create a constant. Let us discuss the rules to create constants.

Rules for constructing Integer constant
1) An integer constant must have at least one digit.
2) It must not have a decimal point.
3) It can either be positive or negative.
4) No commas or blanks are allowed within an integer constant.
5) If no sign precedes an integer constant, it is assumed to be positive.
6) The allowable range for integer constants is -32768 to 32767

Actually, the range of the integer constant depends on the compiler. The above mentioned range is for 16-bit compiler. However, for a 32-bit compiler the range would be even greater.

The integer constants
• Whole Numbers
• E.g. 25, 35, -25, -46
• Computer allocates only 2 bytes in memory.
• 16th bit is sign bit. (if 0 then positive value, if 1 then negative value)

Decimal Integer constant:
• 0 to 9
• E.g.: 49, 58, -62 … (40000 cannot come because it is > 32767)

Octal Integer constant:
• 0 to 7
• Add “0” before the value.
• E.g.: 045, 056, 067

Hexadecimal Integer constant:
• 0 to 9 and A to F
• Add 0x before the value
• E.g.: 0x42, 0x56, 0x67

Rules for constructing Real constants

Rules for constructing Real constants (Fractional Form)
1) A real constant must have at least one digit
2) It must have a decimal point
3) It could be either positive or negative
4) If no sign precedes an integer constant, it is assumed to be positive.
5) No commas or blanks are allowed within a real constant.

E.g.: +867.9, -26.9876, 654.0

Rules for constructing Real constants (Exponential Form)
1) The mantissa part and the exponential part should be separated by the letter ‘e’
2) The mantissa may have a positive or negative sign(default sign is positive)
3) The exponent must have at least one digit
4) The exponent must be a positive or negative integer(default sign is positive)
5) The range of real constants in exponential form is -3.4e38 and -3.4e38

E.g.: +3.2e-4, 4.1e8, -0.2e+4, -3.2e-4

Rules for constructing Character constant
1) A character constant is an alphabet, a single digit or a single special symbol enclosed within inverted commas. Both the inverted commas should point to the left. For example, ’S’ is a valid character constant whereas ‘S’ is not.
2) The maximum length of a character constant can be 1 character. Allots 1 byte of memory

E.g.: ’B’, ’l’, ’#’