SoFunction
Updated on 2025-03-05

Detailed explanation of the usage of single and double quotes in C language

In C language, single and double quotes have different uses, and are used for character and string representations respectively.

1. Single quotes ('):

Single quotes are used to indicateSingle character, i.e. character constant. Each character constant is aintA value of type, corresponding to the integer value of the character in ASCII (or other character encoding table).

grammar

'character'

Example of usage

char ch = 'A';   // 'A' is a character constant, its ASCII value is 65int value = 'A'; // valueThe value is65

Things to note

  • Only single quotes can be includedOne character, cannot contain multiple characters or empty strings.
  • Can contain escaped characters, such as:\n\t\rwait.

Error Example

// Error: Single quotes cannot contain multiple characterschar ch = 'AB'; // Compilation error

2. Double quotes ("):

Double quotes are used to indicateString, i.e. character array. A string is a null character in C language ('\0') ending character array.

grammar

"String"

Example of usage

char str[] = "Hello"; // stris a included5Character array of characters,'H', 'e', 'l', 'l', 'o' and '\0' End symbol

Things to note

  • A string can contain multiple characters and will automatically add one at the end.'\0'Character (null terminator).
  • The type of string ischar[](character array), but can also be used as a pointer type to a character.

Example

const char *str = "Hello, World!";

Summary of the difference between single quotes and double quotes:

characteristic Single quotes' ' Double quotes" "
use Represents a single character constant Represents a string (character array)
type charType (actuallyint char[]orchar*type
Number of characters allowed Only one character Can contain multiple characters
End symbol No automatic ending character Automatically add'\0'End symbol
Escape characters Escape characters can be used, such as'\n' Can contain escaped characters, such as"\n"

Example comparison:

#include <>
int main() {
    char ch = 'A';  // Character constant    char str[] = "Hello, World!";  // String constants    printf("ch: %c\n", ch);   // Output a single character 'A'    printf("str: %s\n", str); // Output string "Hello, World!"    return 0;
}

Summarize:

  • Single quotes: Used to represent a single character (char)。
  • Double quotes: Used to represent a string (character array).

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