Type Conversion in C Language

In C, type conversion, also known as type casting, is the process of converting a value from one data type to another data type. C supports both implicit and explicit type conversion.

1. Implicit type conversion: Implicit type conversion, also known as automatic type conversion, occurs when a value of one data type is assigned to a variable of a different data type and the compiler automatically converts the value to the appropriate data type. For example, when an int is assigned to a float, the compiler will automatically convert the int to a float.

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float x; int y = 5; x = y;

1. Explicit type conversion: Explicit type conversion, also known as type casting, occurs when a value of one data type is explicitly converted to a different data type using a type cast operator. The type cast operator is written as the target data type in parentheses, followed by the value to be converted. For example, to convert a float to an int, you would use the type cast operator (int) before the float.

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float x = 3.14; int y; y = (int) x;

It's important to keep in mind that type casting can cause loss of precision when converting from a larger data type to a smaller one, and there can be unexpected results when converting between different types. For example, when converting from float to int, the decimal part will be truncated, not rounded.

Additionally, the explicit type casting can be used to convert between pointer types. For example, a pointer to one data type can be cast to a pointer to a different data type, but this operation can lead to undefined behavior if the pointer is used to access memory that is not valid for the new data type.

It's also worth noting that, in some cases, the compiler might give a warning when performing certain type conversions, it's always a good practice to make sure that type conversions are done explicitly and with caution.