Path: utzoo!mnetor!tmsoft!dptcdc!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cornell!batcomputer!itsgw!steinmetz!uunet!auspex!guy
From: guy@auspex.UUCP (Guy Harris)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c
Subject: Re: Character constants
Keywords: NULL
Message-ID: <1113@auspex.UUCP>
Date: 4 Mar 89 07:23:31 GMT
References: <13068@steinmetz.ge.com> <102@servio.UUCP> <10138@socslgw.csl.sony.JUNET> <1783@dlvax2.datlog.co.uk> <217@skye.ed.ac.uk> <7447@pyr.gatech.EDU>
Reply-To: guy@auspex.UUCP (Guy Harris)
Organization: Auspex Systems, Santa Clara
Lines: 19

>A simple printf("%d", sizeof('x') ); reveals that a character constant
>(at least both on sun3 and ultrix 11/780) are the same as an int (4 chars).
>Isn't it a lot easier to execute a simple test program than to try to
>look up this type of information?

Doug Gwyn indicated that one version of a C compiler delivered by one
vendor decided that

	sizeof "this is a big fat string"

was the same as

	sizeof (char *)

which is simply not correct.  Your simple test program may give the
wrong answer if your compiler is buggy.

It may be easier to execute a simple test program, but it may not be
easier to believe the results of that program....