6 Basics [basic]

There are five standard signed integer types: “signed char”, “short int”, “int”, “long int”, and “long long int”.

In this list, each type provides at least as much storage as those preceding it in the list.

There may also be implementation-defined extended signed integer types.

The standard and extended signed integer types are collectively called signed integer types.

The range of representable values for a signed integer type is $-2^{N-1}$ to $2^{N-1}-1$ (inclusive), where N is called the width of the type.

For each of the standard signed integer types, there exists a corresponding (but different) standard unsigned integer type: “unsigned char”, “unsigned short int”, “unsigned int”, “unsigned long int”, and “unsigned long long int”.

Likewise, for each of the extended signed integer types, there exists a corresponding extended unsigned integer type.

The standard and extended unsigned integer types are collectively called unsigned integer types.

An unsigned integer type has the same width N as the corresponding signed integer type.

The range of representable values for the unsigned type is 0 to $2^N-1$ (inclusive); arithmetic for the unsigned type is performed modulo $2^N$.

An unsigned integer type has the same object representation, value representation, and alignment requirements ([basic.align]) as the corresponding signed integer type.

For each value x of a signed integer type, the value of the corresponding unsigned integer type congruent to x modulo $2^N$ has the same value of corresponding bits in its value representation.33

The width of each standard signed integer type shall not be less than the values specified in Table 14.

The value representation of a signed or unsigned integer type comprises N bits, where N is the respective width.

Each set of values for any padding bits ([basic.types.general]) in the object representation are alternative representations of the value specified by the value representation.

Except as specified above, the width of a signed or unsigned integer type is implementation-defined.

Each value x of an unsigned integer type with width N has a unique representation $x=x_0{2}^0+x_1{2}^1+\dots +x_{N-1}{2}^{N-1}$, where each coefficient $x_i$ is either 0 or 1; this is called the base-2 representation of x.

The base-2 representation of a value of signed integer type is the base-2 representation of the congruent value of the corresponding unsigned integer type.

The standard signed integer types and standard unsigned integer types are collectively called the standard integer types, and the extended signed integer types and extended unsigned integer types are collectively called the extended integer types.

A fundamental type specified to have a signed or unsigned integer type as its underlying type has the same object representation, value representation, alignment requirements ([basic.align]), and range of representable values as the underlying type.

Further, each value has the same representation in both types.

Type char is a distinct type that has an implementation-defined choice of “signed char” or “unsigned char” as its underlying type.

The three types char, signed char, and unsigned char are collectively called ordinary character types.

The ordinary character types and char8_t are collectively called narrow character types.

For narrow character types, each possible bit pattern of the object representation represents a distinct value.

Type wchar_t is a distinct type that has an implementation-defined signed or unsigned integer type as its underlying type.

Type char8_t denotes a distinct type whose underlying type is unsigned char.

Types char16_t and char32_t denote distinct types whose underlying types are uint_least16_t and uint_least32_t, respectively, in <cstdint>.

Type bool is a distinct type that has the same object representation, value representation, and alignment requirements as an implementation-defined unsigned integer type.

The values of type bool are true and false.

The types char, wchar_t, char8_t, char16_t, and char32_t are collectively called character types.

The character types, bool, the signed and unsigned integer types, and cv-qualified versions ([basic.type.qualifier]) thereof, are collectively termed integral types.

A synonym for integral type is integer type.

The three distinct types float, double, and long double can represent floating-point numbers.

The type double provides at least as much precision as float, and the type long double provides at least as much precision as double.

The set of values of the type float is a subset of the set of values of the type double; the set of values of the type double is a subset of the set of values of the type long double.

The types float, double, and long double, and cv-qualified versions ([basic.type.qualifier]) thereof, are collectively termed standard floating-point types.

An implementation may also provide additional types that represent floating-point values and define them (and cv-qualified versions thereof) to be extended floating-point types.

The standard and extended floating-point types are collectively termed floating-point types.

Except as specified in [basic.extended.fp], the object and value representations and accuracy of operations of floating-point types are implementation-defined.

The minimum range of representable values for a floating-point type is the most negative finite floating-point number representable in that type through the most positive finite floating-point number representable in that type.

In addition, if negative infinity is representable in a type, the range of that type is extended to all negative real numbers; likewise, if positive infinity is representable in a type, the range of that type is extended to all positive real numbers.

Integral and floating-point types are collectively termed arithmetic types.

A type cv void is an incomplete type that cannot be completed; such a type has an empty set of values.

It is used as the return type for functions that do not return a value.

Any expression can be explicitly converted to type cv void ([expr.type.conv], [expr.static.cast], [expr.cast]).

An expression of type cv void shall be used only as an expression statement ([stmt.expr]), as an operand of a comma expression ([expr.comma]), as a second or third operand of ?: ([expr.cond]), as the operand of typeid, noexcept, or decltype, as the expression in a return statement ([stmt.return]) for a function with the return type cv void, or as the operand of an explicit conversion to type cv void.

A value of type std​::​nullptr_t is a null pointer constant ([conv.ptr]).

Such values participate in the pointer and the pointer-to-member conversions ([conv.ptr], [conv.mem]).

sizeof(std​::​nullptr_t) shall be equal to sizeof(void*).

The types described in this subclause are called fundamental types.