const size_t vs int

[mod_motox]

Hi

I am wondering why size_t is used when it has the same functionality as an int and assigning size_t type variable to int works fine.

Any one ?

Thanks

[Rajith Cherian]

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 and memcpy 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.

[Narue]

>I am wondering why size_t is used when it has the same functionality as an int
Because it doesn't have the same functionality as int in all cases. size_t is an unsigned type and int is a signed type. That alone will cause warnings and sometimes odd behavior. size_t is also not required to match the size of int.

>assigning size_t type variable to int works fine.
Only if the value in the size_t variable can be represented by int. Otherwise you've invoked undefined behavior. The only way this assignment could be safe is if size_t is smaller than int, which isn't a common case.