C++ Data Types

The data type is a category of data. In other words, a data type is a collection of data values with similar characteristics. In the C++ programming language, every variable needs to be created with a data type.
The data type of a variable specifies the following.

• The type of value can be stored in a variable.
• The amount of memory in bytes has to be allocated for a variable.
• The range of values has to be stored in a variable.

The C++ programming language supports the following data types.

• Integer Data type
• Floating-point Data type
• Double Data type
• Character Data type
• Boolean Data type
• Void Data type
• Wide Character Data type

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Integer Data type

An integer is a number without a decimal part. For example, the value 10 is an integer. In c++ integer data type has the following characteristics.

• Integer data type is represented using the keyword “int”.
• The integer value is represented using the type specifier “%d” or “%i".
• The integer data type allows storing any value in the range from -32768 to 32767. However, it may change using type modifier.

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Floating-point Data type

A floating-point value is a number with a decimal part. For example, the value 10.65 is a floating-point. In c++ floating-point data type has the following characteristics.

• Floating-point data type is represented using the keyword “float”.
• The floating-point value is represented using the type specifier “%f”.
• The floating-point data type allows storing any value in the range from 2^-31 to 2³¹.
• The floating-point data type does not allows type modifier.
• The floating-point data type allows upto 6 decimal points.

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Double Data type

The double data type is similar to the floating-point data type but it allows a wide range of values. The double data type has the following characteristics.

• The double data type is represented using the keyword “double”.
• The double value is represented using the type specifier “%ld”.
• The double data type allows storing any value in the range from 2^-63 to 2⁶³.
• The double data type does not allows type modifier except long.
• The double data type allows double precision upto 12 decimal points.

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Character Data type

A character is a symbol enclosed in a single quotation. Here, the symbol may be anything like an alphabet, a digit, or a special symbol. In C++, the character data type has the following characteristics.

• The character data type is represented using the keyword “char”.
• The character value is represented using the type specifier “%c” or "%s".
• The character data type allows storing any value in the range from -128 to 127.
• The character data type allows only signed and unsigned type modifiers.

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Boolean Data type

The boolean data type contains only two values 0 and 1. Here the value 0 represents false, and 1 represents true. The boolean data type has the following characteristics.

• The boolean data type is represented using the keyword “bool”.
• The boolean value is represented using the type specifier “%d”.
• The boolean data type allows storing only 0 and 1.
• The boolean data type does not allows type modifier.

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Void Data type

The void data type is a value less data type, and it represents nothing. The void data type has the following characteristics.

• The void data type is represented using the keyword “void”.
• The void value does not have any type specifier.
• The void data type does not allows storing any value.
• The void data type does not allows type modifier.

Wide character Data type

The wide-character data type is similar to character data type, but it takes 2 bytes of memory. It allows a wide range of character values compare to the character data type. This data type has supported by the latest compilers only. The keyword wchar_t is used to represent wide character data type.

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The following table describes the characteristics of each data type briefly.