Description

The float type is a floating-point number data type. It has no unsigned equivalent.

A float is guaranteed to be at least 16 bits wide. Its characteristics in a given implementation are specified by macros provided in limits.h, as follows:

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FLT_MIN is the minimum positive value that can be represented by a float. It must be positive, and no greater than 1E-37.

FLT_MAX is the greatest positive value that can be represented by a float. It must be at least 1E37.

Floating-point literals are of type double by default, but the suffix F (or f), when added to a floating-point literal, indicates that it should be treated as a float, not a double. So, for example, 6.0 is a double, but 6.0F is a float.

The printf function treats floats as doubles, and the format specifier for a float is therefore the same as for a double: %f. The following program defines a float, assigns a value to it, prints the value, and terminates.

#include <stdio.h>

int main(void)
{
  float f = 6.0F;
  printf("The value of f is %f\n", f);
  return 0;
}

The output of this program is:

The value of f is 6.000000

See also

double

long double

References

• ISO C99 Standard, 6.2.5