C tokens

keyword
• Every c word is classified as either a keyword
or an identifier.
• All keywords have fixed meaning and this
cannot be changed.
• All keywords must be written in lowercase.
• Examples:
int,break,char,if,else,float,return,void..etc
 Identifiers
• It refers to the names of variables, functions
and arrays.
• These are user defined names and consists of
a sequence of letter and digits but only with
letter as a first characters.
• Both uppercase and lowercase letters are
permitted.(most commonly used are LC
Letters)
 Rules for identifiers
1. First character must be an alphabet(or
underscore.)
2. Must consist of only letters, digits or
underscore.
3. Only first 31 characters are significant.
4. Cannot use a keyword.
5. Must not contain white space.
 constants
• Constants in c refer to fixed values that do not
change during the execution of a program.
 Integer constants
• An integer constant can hold an integer as its
value.
• There are three types of integer constants,
namely, decimal integer, octal integer and
hexadecimal integer.
 Decimal integer consists of a set of digits from
0 to 9, preceded by an optional + or – sign.
Examples: 123 , -321 , 0 , 64932.
 continued
 Octal integer consists of a set of digits from 0
to 7, with a leading 0.
Examples: 037 , 0 , 0437, 0551.
 Hexadecimal integers are a sequence of digits
preceded by 0x or 0X. They may also includes
letters from A to F or from a to f. The letters
represents the numbers from 10 to 15.
Examples: 0X2 , 0x9F , 0Xbcd , 0x.
 Real constants
• Real constants can be assigned real values,
that is values with floating points.
• Real constants are used to represent
quantities that are very continuous, such as
distances, temperature etc.
• These quantities are represented by numbers
containing fractional parts.
Examples:- 0.00832 , -0.75 , 33.337.
 Single character and a string constants
 Single character constants:
• A single character constants contains a single character
enclosed within a pair of single quote marks.
Examples:- ‘5’ ‘X’ ‘;’

 String constants:
A string constant contains a string of characters enclosed
within a pair of double quote marks. Examples:-
“Hello !” “1987” “?….!”
 strings
• In C programming, a string is a sequence of
characters terminated with a null character \0.
For example: char c[] = "c string";
• When the compiler encounters a sequence of
characters enclosed in the double quotation
marks, it appends a null character \0 at the
end by default.
 operators
1. Arithmetic Operators.
2. Relational Operators.
3. Logical Operators.
4. Assignment Operators.
5. Increment and decrement operators.(or unary)
6. Conditional Operators(or ternary).
7. Bitwise Operators.
8. Special Operators.
 Special symbols
• The special symbols have some special
meaning in c programming and they cannot
be used for other purposes.
• Some of the special symbols that are used in C
programming are as follows :−
• [] () {} , ; * = #
• Brackets[] − Opening and closing of brackets are used for array
element reference, which indicate single and
multidimensional subscripts.

• Parentheses() − These special symbols are used for function

calls and function parameters.

• Braces{} − Opening and closing of curly braces indicates the

start and end of a block of code which contains more than
one executable statement.

• Comma (, ) − It is used to separate more than one statements

like separating parameters in function calls.
• Colon(:) − It is an operator which essentially invokes
something called as an initialization list.

• Semicolon(;) − It is called as a statement terminator that

indicates the end of one logical entity. That is the reason
each individual statement must be ended with a semicolon.

• Asterisk (*) − It is used to create a pointer variable.

• Assignment operator(=) − It is used for assigning values.

• Pre-processor (#) − The pre-processor called as a macro

processor is used by the compiler to transform your
program before the actual compilation starts.