Newsgroups: comp.lang.c
Path: utzoo!henry
From: henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: type of character constants
Message-ID: <1989Mar18.221754.27335@utzoo.uucp>
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
References: <13068@steinmetz.ge.com> <102@servio.UUCP> <10138@socslgw.csl.sony.JUNET> <1783@dlvax2.datlog.co.uk> <3711@xyzzy.UUCP> <1644@vicorp.UUCP> <766@twwells.uucp> <1813@dlvax2.datlog.co.uk>
Date: Sat, 18 Mar 89 22:17:54 GMT

In article <1813@dlvax2.datlog.co.uk> scm@datlog.co.uk ( Steve Mawer ) writes:
>So what is the 'correct' value for '\377', 255 or -1?

Precisely! :-)  The correct value is "255 or -1".  If char is signed in
the particular implementation, the value is -1 (assuming 8-bit chars);
if char is unsigned, the value is 255.  The X3J11 rule is essentially
that 'x' == (int)(char)'x' for all x, so it depends on whether conversion
of char to int sign-extends.  Code that depends on one particular choice
is non-portable.
-- 
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