Important Data Types - The GNU C Library

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### A.4 Important Data Types

The result of subtracting two pointers in C is always an integer, but the precise data type varies from C compiler to C compiler. Likewise, the data type of the result of `sizeof` also varies between compilers. ISO defines standard aliases for these two types, so you can refer to them in a portable fashion. They are defined in the header file `stddef.h`.

— Data Type: ptrdiff_t

> This is the signed integer type of the result of subtracting two pointers. For example, with the declaration `char *p1, *p2;`, the expression `p2 - p1` is of type `ptrdiff_t`. This will probably be one of the standard signed integer types (`short int`, `int` or `long int`), but might be a nonstandard type that exists only for this purpose.

— Data Type: size_t

> This is an unsigned integer type used to represent the sizes of objects. The result of the `sizeof` operator is of this type, and functions such as `malloc` (see Unconstrained Allocation) and `memcpy` (see Copying and Concatenation) accept arguments of this type to specify object sizes.

> Usage Note: `size_t` is the preferred way to declare any arguments or variables that hold the size of an object.

In the GNU system `size_t` is equivalent to either `unsigned int` or `unsigned long int`. These types have identical properties on the GNU system and, for most purposes, you can use them interchangeably. However, they are distinct as data types, which makes a difference in certain contexts.

For example, when you specify the type of a function argument in a function prototype, it makes a difference which one you use. If the system header files declare `malloc` with an argument of type `size_t` and you declare `malloc` with an argument of type `unsigned int`, you will get a compilation error if `size_t` happens to be `unsigned long int` on your system. To avoid any possibility of error, when a function argument or value is supposed to have type `size_t`, never declare its type in any other way.

Compatibility Note: Implementations of C before the advent of ISO C generally used `unsigned int` for representing object sizes and `int` for pointer subtraction results. They did not necessarily define either `size_t` or `ptrdiff_t`. Unix systems did define `size_t`, in `sys/types.h`, but the definition was usually a signed type.