Step 5 of 6
Characters with char
A char holds a single character, such as a letter, digit or symbol. Character values are written in single quotes: 'A', '7', '?'. Double quotes mean something different: "A" is a string (text that can have many characters), which you'll meet properly later.
Print a char with %c:
#include <stdio.h>
int main(void) {
char grade = 'B';
char next = grade + 1;
printf("Grade: %c\n", grade);
printf("Next: %c\n", next);
printf("As a number: %d\n", grade);
return 0;
}
Grade: B
Next: C
As a number: 66
Characters are numbers
Computers only store numbers, so every character has a numeric code. The standard table is called ASCII: 'A' is 65, 'B' is 66, 'a' is 97, '0' is 48, and a space is 32. A char is really a small integer (one byte), and C lets you do arithmetic on it, which is why grade + 1 gives 'C'.
What you see depends on how you print it: %c shows the character, %d shows its code. It's the same value either way.
Common mistakes
char c = "A";(double quotes) is an error: that's a string, not a character.'AB'isn't one character. Acharholds exactly one.'7'(the character, code 55) is not the number7.
Your task
Write a program that stores the letter T in a char named team, then prints two lines:
Team: T
Code: 84
Challenge 2
Store the letter A in a char named grade and print it as a letter, so the output is Grade: A.
Challenge 3
Characters are small numbers, so you can do arithmetic on them. Store 'a' in a char named key, then print the key and the letter that comes after it by adding 1:
Key: a
Next: b