Issue 0068: When are values of the type char treated as signedor nonnegative integers

This issue has been automatically converted from the original issue lists and some formatting may not have been preserved.

Authors: Clive Feather, WG14
Date: 1993-12-03
Submitted against: C90
Status: Closed
Converted from: dr.htm, dr_068.html

Item 5 - handling of char values

Values of the type char must be treated as either “signed” or “nonnegative” integers (subclause 6.1.2.5).

a. Is the treatment determined strictly by the value of the expression CHAR_MAX == SCHAR_MAX?

b. If the treatment is as “signed” integers, does the type char behave in every instance as the type signed char (though of course being a different type)? If not, what are the differences?

c. If the treatment is as “nonnegative” integers, does the type char behave in every instance as the type unsigned char (though of course being a different type)? If not, what are the differences? In particular, do the "no overflow, reduce modulo" semantics apply?

Comment from WG14 on 1997-09-23:

Response

a) Yes.

b) and c) Yes. Subclause 6.2.1.1, “As discussed earlier, ...” indicates that this is the intent.