C Variables
Variables
Variables are containers for storing data values, like numbers and characters.
You can think of a variable as a named box where you keep a value that can be used later.
In C, variables must have a specific type, which tells the program what kind of data the variable can store.
int- stores whole numbers (integers), such as123or-123float- stores numbers with decimals, such as19.99or-19.99char- stores a single character, such as'a'or'B'. Characters are surrounded by single quotes
Declaring (Creating) Variables
To create a variable, you must specify the type and give the variable a name.
You can also assign a value at the same time:
Syntax
type variableName = value;
Where type is one of the C data types (such as int),
and variableName is the name you choose (for example x or myNum).
The equal sign = is used to assign a value to the variable.
So, to create a variable that should store a number, look at the following example:
Example
Create a variable named myNum of type int and assign the value 15:
int myNum = 15;
You can also declare a variable first and assign a value later:
Example
// Declare a variable
int myNum;
// Assign a value later
myNum = 15;
Tip: Variable names should be meaningful, so your code is easier to understand.
Output Variables
You learned from the output chapter that you can print text using the printf() function:
In many other programming languages (like Python, Java, and C++), you would normally use a print function to display the value of a variable. However, this is not possible in C:
To print variables in C, you must use something called format specifiers.
Don't worry - this will be explained clearly in the next chapter.
