Data type of character constants in C and C++ (original) (raw)

Last Updated : 23 Jul, 2025

In C, data type of character constants is int, but in C++, data type of same is char. If we save below program as test.c then we get 4 as output (assuming size of integer is 4 bytes) and if we save the same program as test.cpp then we get 1(assuming size of char is 1 byte)

C++ `

// C++ program demonstrating that data type of character // constants in C++ is same as 'char'

#include using namespace std;

int main() {

cout << sizeof('a');

return 0;

}

// This code is contributed by sarajadhav12052009

C

#include <stdio.h> int main() { printf("%lu", sizeof('a'));

getchar(); return 0; }

`

Output of C++ program:

1

Output of C program:

4

References: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C_syntax#Character_constants