The Size of the char Data Type in C

In C programming, the char data type is used to store individual characters. The size of a char is fixed across all platforms, which makes it an essential aspect of understanding memory management in C.

Size of char in C

The size of the char data type in C is always 1 byte. This means that it occupies 1 byte of memory, which is equivalent to 8 bits.

Example to Determine Size

Here’s a simple C program that demonstrates how to determine the size of the char data type:

#include <stdio.h>

int main() {
    printf("Size of char: %zu byte(s)\n", sizeof(char));
    return 0;
}

This program uses the sizeof operator to print the size of a char. When you run this code, you will see the following output:

Output:
Size of char: 1 byte(s)

As demonstrated, the size of char is always 1 byte, which is standardized across all systems that comply with the C standard.