char and wchar_t types are used for saving character codes.
A character code is an integer associated with each character.
The letter A is represented by code 65, for example.
The character set defines which code represents a certain character.
The char type stores character codes in one byte (8 bits).
The wchar_t (wide character type) type comprises at least 2 bytes (16 bits) and can store modern Unicode characters.
Unicode is a 16-bit code containing codes for approximately 35,000 characters in 24 languages.
| Constant | Character | Constant Value (ASCII code decimal) |
|---|---|---|
| 'A' | Capital A | 65 |
| 'a' | Lowercase a | 97 |
| ' ' | Blank | 32 |
| '.' | Dot | 46 |
| '0' | Digit 0 | 48 |
| '\0' | Terminating null character | 0 |
A character constant is a character enclosed in single quotes.
'A' // Type: char
The numerical value is the character code representing the character.
The constant 'A' has a value of 65 in ASCII code.