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Format Specifier

Format specifiers in C are used to specify the type of data for input and output functions like scanf() and printf(). Common format specifiers include %c for characters, %d for integers, %f for floats, %s for strings, and %x for hexadecimal. Format specifiers can also specify padding, field width, and precision. For example, %-20s left-aligns a string in a 20 character wide field.

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89 views

Format Specifier

Format specifiers in C are used to specify the type of data for input and output functions like scanf() and printf(). Common format specifiers include %c for characters, %d for integers, %f for floats, %s for strings, and %x for hexadecimal. Format specifiers can also specify padding, field width, and precision. For example, %-20s left-aligns a string in a 20 character wide field.

Uploaded by

ajwa tel
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Format Specifier in C

The format specifiers are used in C for input and output purposes. Using this concept the
compiler can understand that what type of data is in a variable during taking input using
the scanf() function and printing using printf() function. Here is a list of format specifiers.

Format Specifier Type

%c Character

%d Signed integer

%e or %E Scientific notation of floats

%f Float values

%g or %G Similar as %e or %E

%hi Signed integer (short)

%hu Unsigned Integer (short)

%i Unsigned integer

%l or %ld or %li Long

%lf Double

%Lf Long double

%lu Unsigned int or unsigned long

%lli or %lld Long long

%llu Unsigned long long

%o Octal representation

%p Pointer

%s String

%u Unsigned int

%x or %X Hexadecimal representation

%n Prints nothing
Format Specifier Type

%% Prints % character
These are the basic format specifiers. We can add some other parts with the format
specifiers. These are like below −
 A minus symbol (-) sign tells left alignment
 A number after % specifies the minimum field width. If string is less than the width,
it will be filled with spaces
 A period (.) is used to separate field width and precision

Example
Live Demo

#include <stdio.h>
main() {
char ch = 'B';
printf("%c", ch); //printing character data
//print decimal or integer data with d and i
int x = 45, y = 90;
printf("%d", x);
printf("%i", y);
float f = 12.67;
printf("%f", f); //print float value
printf("%e", f); //print in scientific notation
int a = 67;
printf("%o", a); //print in octal format
printf("%x", a); //print in hex format
char str[] = "Hello World";
printf("%s", str);
printf("%20s", str); //shift to the right 20 characters including the string
printf("%-20s", str); //left align
printf("%20.5s", str); //shift to the right 20 characters including the string, and print string up to 5
character
printf("%-20.5s", str); //left align and print string up to 5 character
}
Output
B
45
90
12.670000
1.267000e+001
103
43
Hello World
Hello World
Hello World
Hello
Hello
We can use these format specifiers for the scanf() function also in the same manner. So
we can take the input from scanf() like above how we have printed.

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